L'amant (1992)

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers:

Jean-Jacques Annaud (writer)
Gérard Brach (writer)

Release Date:

30 October 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

She gave her innocence, her passion, her body. The one thing she couldn't give was her love.

Plot:

In 1929 French Indochina, a French teenage girl embarks on a reckless and forbidden romance with a wealthy, older Chinese man, each knowing that knowledge of their affair will bring drastic consequences to each other.

Plot Keywords:

Chinese | Indochina | Vietnam | Sexual Desire | Limousine

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Jane March	...	The Young Girl
Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	The Chinaman
Frédérique Meininger	...	The Mother
Arnaud Giovaninetti	...	The Elder Brother
Melvil Poupaud	...	The Younger Brother
Lisa Faulkner	...	Helene Lagonelle
Xiem Mang	...	The Chinaman's Father
Philippe Le Dem	...	The French Teacher
Ann Schaufuss	...	Anne-Marie Stretter
Quach Van An	...	The Driver
Tania Torrens	...	The Principal
Raymonde Heudeline	...	The Writer (end)
Yvonne Wingerter	...	The Writer (beginning)
Do Minh Vien	...	The Young Boy
Hélène Patarot	...	The Assistant Mistress

Also Known As:

The Lover (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R on appeal for graphic and explicit sexuality.

Runtime:

115 min | USA:103 min (R-rated version) | USA:115 min (unrated version) | Germany:111 min (25 fps)

Country:

France | UK | Vietnam

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | LC-Concept Digital Sound

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Hong Kong:III | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating on appeal)

Filming Locations:

Ho Chi Min (Saigon), Vietnam

Company:

Films A2

Trivia:

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud carefully choreographed the sex scenes to appear believable.

Quotes:

The Young Girl: It's me. I am always a little sad. I'm like my mother.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Une américaine à Paris (2005) (TV)

Poetic exploration of female sexuality

This movie is one of the very few successful attempts at evoking female sexuality and sensuality in a non-obscene way. It's an exploration of the work of the senses, not so much a story with a plot. Therefore, it is unique in the history of cinema. Whereas other movies featuring a young girl and an older lover are mostly playful, ironic or simply intent on breaking a taboo, this movie brings an ode to the senses themselves in a much more subtle way.

Difficult as this may be, Annaud brings us as close as we can get to the atmosphere of love in a colonial and exotic setting. This delicate setting with its many contradictions (race, gender, age) adds to the experience. (A young girl who explores her own sexuality, couldn't dream of a more well-suiting context). In fact, the "colony" herself is a major character in the movie; the colony with her mighty Mekong River, her smells and colors, her strange sounds and her enigmatic people.

On a more metaphoric level, the Colony represents a temporary space, a place where Western people only pass through, a space that cannot be owned forever, a place of love and hate, just like the lovers' relationship. And in the end, the lovers have to go their own way, just like the colonialists have to leave the colony they love.

The movie is poetically slow, and at times becomes an almost ritual repetition of a single act. Precisely therein lies its 'dramatic content'. Add the beautiful cinematography and you have a nice exercise in film.