Epic and spectacular movie plenty of romance , emotion , intense drama and historical events . In Vietnam before the American there lived the French . It deals with a plantation owner , Eliane : Catherine Deneuve , who creates a particular civilization transported to her hothouse and along the way she contends with the changes to her country . Deneuve starts a loving story with a young naval officer, Vincent Perez . But later on , he has a passionate affaire with Deneuve's adopted daughter, Linh Dan Pham , who grows up and becomes independent . Things go wrong when the French officer , Vincent Perez , is sent to a far outpost on the Gulf of Tonkín , shortly after, there appears the young Vietnamese girl . Midway throughout , having involved us so deeply in colonial Enterprise , he abruptly cut our cultural ties and plunged into the sweeping as well as bloody revolutionary myth . After that , the lovers get together and go on the run , being hidden by the communist guerrilla posing as theatre players . When the girl is incarcerated she discovers her people .
This is a lush romanticism movie , the alegorical intimitations can not be entirely believable , however the film is attractive and interesting , though overlong . It is almost as exotic as the breathtaking Vietnam landscape . It is rather enervatingly composed with long and boring scenes , but photography and gorgeous outdoors make up for it , though pacing could be certainly tighter . Deneuve gives a nice and controlled acting in her usual fashion as a powerful woman reared in Indochina from 1930 , following her life until the communist revolution 25 years later . She displays an unchanging and cold beauty that is eminently watchable . She is well accompanied by the young Vincent Perez and Linh Dan Pham . Along with notorius French secondaries as Jean Yanne and Dominique Blanc.
Shot on location in Vietnam with impressive and exquisite cinematography by Francois Catonne . It was filmed on location in Vietnam, Malaysia, and France. Some scenes were shot at Hue Palace and slave market frames were filmed in Halong Bay in Northeastern Vietnam, and several images from Paris . It contains a sensitive and evocative musical score by Patrick Doyle . The motion picture was professionally directed by Regis Wargnier . Regis is a good filmaker who has directed some nice and interesting films , such as : ¨The gate¨ , ¨Have mercy on us all¨, ¨The ligne droite¨ , ¨Une femme Francaise¨, ¨I am the king of the castle¨, ¨The woman of my life¨ and his greatest hit, ¨Indochina¨. It won several prizes and nominations . Being France's official submission to the 1993's Oscars in the best foreign language film category and it achieved Hollywood Academy Award to the Best Foreign film and various Golden Globes . And a lot of Cesar awards , such as : Actress, Art direction, cinematography, sound, and support actress Dominique Blanc. Rating : 6.5/10. Well worth seeing. Better than average.
