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Indochine from 1992 with Catherine Deneuve, Linh-Dan Pham, Vincent Perez and Jean Yanne
Indochine is a beautifully filmed epic that observes more than it comments on the final decades of French colonial rule in Indochina, a part of which became Vietnam. But it is observation with an opinion.
Catherine Deneuve plays the French owner of a large rubber plantation she inherited from her now widowed father. Unmarried, Deneuve adopts an orphaned girl, played by Linh-Dan Pham, who was born into a dynastic Vietnamese family.
Opening in the 1930s, Deneuve is confidently in charge of her rubber plantation as she firmly commands her native "coolie" labourers. She loves the plantation and the country, but of course, in the construct that has her as part of the ruling class.
Outwardly, Deneuve is aristocratically reserved, but we see she has clandestine sexual affairs and secretly visits opium dens. Libidinous passions and psychotropic desires course through her blood, no matter how haughty she may appear.
Deneuve deeply loves her adopted daughter, openly stating her life's passion and goal is to pass her large plantation on to her. Quite likely, Phan would have accepted the plantation and lived a life of wealth and privilege but for the brewing revolution.
The catalyst that breaks Deneuve's plan is a young, handsome French naval officer, played by Vincent Perez with whom Deneuve has a brief, but passionate love affair. Fast-forward and Perez, innocently at first, becomes entangled with Deneuve's daughter, Pham.
His entanglement is sparked by the sweeping societal changes that will see Pham transform from a daughter of privilege into a catalyst and hero of the revolution almost by happenstance. She and Perez become part of a story that is much larger than either of them.
Indochine tells that story, the story of Vietnam's fight for independence, through the lives of Deneuve, Pham and Perez. The movie, which begins in the 1930s, closes with the defeated French leaving Vietnam in 1954 as the country splits politically into the North and South.
If it is a detailed history one is after, this is not the movie. Indochine does, though, provide a passionate feel for the beauty and tragedy of the country's final colonial days. The movie is also visually stunning.
Filmed mainly in Vietnam, with the plantation scenes shot in Malaysia, the country becomes a character itself. Director Regis Wargnier captures the beauty of Vietnam's mountains, inlets and verdant jungles with gorgeous sweeping shots.
Wargnier also pays great attention to detail by showing the beauty of the French colonial architecture and clothing and the beauty of Vietnam's extant royals in their stunning palaces and colorful robes. But he sets all that against the poverty of the bedraggled lower classes.
Wargnier mainly observes, but by constantly juxtaposing the nearly abject poverty of the average Vietnamese worker and family against the opulence of the French colonialists and indigenous royals, he quietly connects the dots to the coming revolution.
Nearly fifty and still beautiful, Deneuve delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a singular Frenchwoman in a unique place and time in history. Her screen presence and acting talent drives a movie with a strong cast and rich story.
Pham and Perez also deliver impressive performances as does Jean Yanne as Deveuve's friend, the modestly corrupt, but also effective and moral in his own way, French official. He sees the signs of the end of French colonial rule earlier than most.
Indochine isn't perfect - it is soapy in parts and forced in others - but those are quibbles in a movie that beautifully and powerfully captures a time, place and moment that is now part of history. It uses all the strengths of cinema to deliver a rich movie-viewing experience.