Product description

Indochine [1991]

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Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 0502703500400
Label : Arrow Films
Manufacturer : Arrow Films
Publisher : Arrow Films
Release date : 2001-07-30
Title : Indochine [1991]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1991-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 160
Studio : Arrow Films
Theatrical releaseDate : 1992-12-23
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Winner of the Academy Award for best foreign-language film in 1992, Indochine is a vast, panoramic love story set in the twilight years of French Indo-China. Comparisons with David Lean are inevitable, considering director Régis Wargnier's use of the setting as a backdrop to the love-triangle between the three main characters. Catherine Deneuve gives a strong, emotionally restrained performance as Eliane, the plantation owner whose colonial paradise is slowly falling apart. Vincent Perez is magnetic yet thoughtful as the young officer Jean-Baptiste, complemented by Jean Yanne's dry cynicism as the Chief of Police knowingly fighting a losing battle for French culture. Linh Dan Pham is affecting as Camille, Eliane's adopted daughter whose journey from aristocratic ancestry to Marxist induction personifies the changing face of South-East Asia in the period around World War Two. Patrick Doyle's score reinforces the expressive sweep of the direction and "orientalisms!" are kept to a minimum.

On the DVD The 16:9 wide-screen format reproduces best in the domestic scenes, and there are 30 individual chapter points, detailed in the interactive moving menu. The disc also has detailed filmographies for the main cast and director, including an entertaining "gossip" file for Deneuve. English subtitles are optional. A half-hour location report would have been worthwhile, but overall this is a persuasive presentation of one of the few genuine historical-romantic epics of the 1990s. --Richard Whitehouse

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-12-05 rating:

Old-fashioned storytelling on an epic scale
In its day a casualty of the chaos and confusion surrounding the frequently ridiculous entry qualifications for the Best Foreign Film Oscar - many superior films were ruled ineligible and those it was competing against were scarcely representative of the world's best - Indochine may not be great art, but it is an enjoyable example of the kind of old-fashioned good storytelling that Hollywood rarely produces anymore.

Set against the last days of the French occupation of what was to later become Vietnam, it uses the relationship between Catherine Deneuve's French plantation owner and her adopted Vietnamese daughter (Linh Dan Pham) as a mirror for the relationship between France and Vietnam. Like the American South, for the privileged few, the French IndoChina is a fairy tale land built on the exploitation of others, which they excuse as 'paternalism.' But the idyll comes crashing down when the daughter runs away from home in search of her lover (Vincent Perez), who had previously had an affair with Deneuve, with tragic consequences.

The film moves between glossy soap opera, political drama and epic romance quite effectively, with strong performances and occasionally striking direction from Regis Wargnier and scoring from Patrick Doyle. Francois Catonne's photography is often disappointing, however, over-fond of the caramel tints that have become something of an unattractive visual cliché for period drama with pretensions to the socio-political, at least until the second act where the film really gets into its stride. Heralded by a sinister procession of sampans making their torch lit way through the night, the scenes on Dragon Island are film-making of a very high order bringing the political, emotional and narrative to the fore in a seamless whole.

Not a great film by any means, but a well-balanced, entertaining and more intelligent one than its detractors give it credit for. No extras on the UK DVD, but a good widescreen transfer.

review by: pepper flower date: 2006-06-03 rating:

Great Epic Film, Fascinating Historical Realism
"Your Indochine is no more" replied Camille ... the released prisoner, Communist fugitive, and adopted daughter of Eliane, her mother and wealthy rubber plantation owner. Eliane had gone to the prison to rescue her daughter and try to retrieve their old lifestyle but it had died along with the political changes and rebellions against the French colonialists. Camille had been a spoiled rich young girl. She escaped a traditional Indochinese betrothal and marriage to unwittingly participate in an underground Communist movement, while trying to locate Jean- Baptiste, the French Naval officer with whom she fell in love. The film is haunting and beautiful as it depicts a historical era from the 1930s to mid 1955. The upper class French colonial lifestyle is shown in all its opulence. French ex-patriots gather for social events and celebrations while the Indochinese are second-class citizens doing the back-breaking labor in the fields. The educated Indochinese young people go to Paris for education at Universities. There they develop a taste for freedom and rebelllion, as they understand the exploitation of their country ...

Catherine Deneuve portrays Eliane Devries, the unmarried adult daughter of a wealthy rubber plantation owner ... she has an affair with Jean-Baptiste Le Guen, a Naval officer she meets at an auction. After she discovers he also slept with Camille, her adopted daughter, she uses her political influence to exile him as far as possible, to break off the love affair and influence he has on her daughter. He is sent to Dragon Island ... an exotic location in the South Seas which is also a work colony for the French.

The film appeals on many levels: the sensually exotic location of Viet Nam (former Indochina), the exploration of deep churning divided emotions experienced by Eliane who loves her adopted daughter Camille, despite Camille's innocent awakening to a physical affair and all the complications that arise because it is with the same man her mother desires ... The film feels so real because it occurs during a politically unstable time, Communist grass roots insurgent movements threaten the old establishment, wreaking havoc at unexpected moments. Camille becomes an ordinairy peasant after she elopes from her former life to find her lover, Jean-Baptiste. She walks across the country on foot with a family who are looking to find a better life, their destination also is Dragon Island. Camille experiences the exploitation of her people by the French first hand. In one highly charged scene she murders a French Officer in an emotional rage over an act perpetrated by the French on the family with whom she travelled ... Her innocence is lost forever. Jean-Baptiste is a witness to the act and protects her. They become fugitives ... their life on the run is the stuff great movies are made of ... although eventually the pair are caught. This film has enormous appeal for its complexity. The manner in which the characters deal with the impact of personal and political events on their lives is superbly filmed. Eliane wants to save her daughter Camille from punishment ... she appraoches the local French police administrator to help her find Camille. In the end, the best Eliane can do is to raise the son of Camille and Jean-Baptiste ... When he is old enough to understand, she tells him the history of his birth and the stories and legends about his parents. This is an outstanding film most highly recommended. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

review by: date: 2006-06-02 rating:

ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS OF ALL TIME.
This film is brilliant on every level and one of the most moving of all time.

The genius of this drama is that starts off as a crowd-pleasing colonial soap-opera and ends up as both a hard hitting political epic and a transcendent love story.

However I strongly urge you to buy the other version sold here on Amazon UK as the subtitling translation especially for the Vietnamese as well as the French, the DVD authoring, the frame-rate and running speed as well as the sound and the colour are all better on the R1 edition.

review by: date: 2005-12-01 rating:

More ham than Sainsbury's
For me, "Indochine" never rose above the mediocre and ordinary and this was disappointing because the film had the potential to be so much better. Set against the background of popular revolt against French colonial rule in Vietnam in the 1940's/50's and exploring developments through the life and loves of a wealthy female plantation owner, "Indochine" fails to grip and immerse the viewer. The acting was quite hammy and melodramatic and it was hard to empathise with any of the main characters. The plot and character development was awkward and unrealistic, while even the soundtrack and use of incidental music was poorly realised. I had expected to get a better understanding of the history and politics of this turbulent period and it's zeitgeist from watching the film, but I emerged little the wiser. There was too much focus placed on the activities of the unlikeable and self-centred female lead and I wasn't convinced at all by the unlikely conversion of her refined, sylph-like adopted daughter into a revolutionary icon. "Indochine" lacks credibility and at a running time of 160 minutes it is also too long. Visually appealing but ultimately insubstantial ,"Indochine" is "all fur coat and no knickers".

review by: date: 2005-06-30 rating:

Superficial and pompous...
I wish I could find something good about this film but helas... I really tried hard watching it at different times but still, it's almost unbearable to watch. I really envy non french-speakers who may then not be affected by the terrible acting (but the script is basically awful so the actors may not be totally responsible). This film is discontinued, the storyline is either too slow or too fast, no identification with the characters is possible, the actors seem to 'recitate' their part with no emotion (Deneuve plays 'Deneuve' with a monotonous and unconvincing tone of voice. Vincent Perez is very good-looking but truly has no talent whatsoever). Everything happens abruptly with no real continuity. We don't see that much of the Vietnam either and these bits of history do nothing for the film. What this film lacks above all is depth, it just goes in different directions with no coherence. Bits of this and bits of that, I find hard to understand how this film got an award for the best foreign film. My advice: Borrow it from someone before you actually buy it.
I certainly will recommend 'The Lover' inspired by Marguerite Duras' novel of the same name as well as the films like 'Cyclo' or 'the scent of the green papaya'. A different aspect of the Vietnam but far more interesting and so much more beautiful.

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