Romantic melodrama set during French colonial rule in Vietnam from 1930-1954. French national Eliane thinks of Vietnam as home: she owns a rubber plantation there, and has adopted Camille, the Vietnamese child of Eliane's deceased friends. But mother and daughter are soon at odds over both romance and politics: Camille has fallen for French naval officer Jean-Baptiste, who was once Eliane's lover, and has also become a revolutionary determined to destroy the French-run government. Tensions deepen when authorities sentence Camille to a French labor camp, and Eliane takes charge of Jean-Baptiste and Camille's baby. As time passes, it becomes clear that France's reign in Vietnam will soon end -- leaving mother, daughter and grandchild on different sides of the ideological issue...
Rolling Stone, 01/21/1993, p.55-6, "...Hauntingly beautiful....A wrenching tale of displacement..."
USA Today, 12/24/1992, p.3D, "...INDOCHINE is extremely handsome..."
Chicago Sun-Times, 02/05/1993, p.42, "...There are many good things in this film, not least the sense of time and place....Through this film, Deneuve drifts like an angel. She is as beautiful as ever, in the role of a lifetime..."
Title Note
The Columbia TriStar special edition video #80813 is part of a limited edition Academy Awards sell through package that comes with a free copy of "Oscar's Greatest Moments," a classic collection of some of the most memorable moments from Oscar telecasts.
Further funding for the film was provided by Club des Investisseurs, Sofinergie, Sofinergie 2, Investimage 3, and Cofimage 3.
The film begins in 1930 during the years of French colonial rule in what was referred to as Indochina. Many French people, like Catherine Deneuve's character, lived in Indochina their entire life, had never even been to France, and considered their adopted land their home. But the French set up a ruling class system that exploited many of the Vietnamese, in some cases even enslaving them, similar to the British rule in India. As Marxist ideals started taking hold, especially among intellectuals, the Vietnamese were able to form a solid resistance to French rule. They finally gained their independence in 1954, and Indochina was divided into the countries now known as Vietnam, Cambodia (Kampuchea), and Laos. Independence caused a civil war between those wanting to see a Marxist government and those (mostly wealthy landowners) favoring a right-wing dictatorship -- which left the opening for America's later exploits in the country during the Vietnam War.
Shot in Vietnam, Malaysia and Switzerland, in Eclair color, Kodak Eastmancolor film, Panavision equipment.
Catherine Deneuve, the film's star, was the model for the statue of Marianne, the French republic's official symbol.
Dialogue French and Vietnamese; English subtitles.
Rated BBFC 12 by the British Board of Film Classification.
Copyright 1992 Paradis Films et La Generale d'Images.
Help provided from Centre National du Cinema Vietnamien.
Product Quotation/Excerpt
"I'll never understand French people's love stories - full of folly, fury and suffering... like our wars." -- Rich Asian Woman
Release Note
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Widescreen Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 - French Additional Release Material: Trailers - 1. FARINELLI 2. ORLANDO Interactive Features: Interactive Menus Scene Selection Text/Photo Galleries: Talent Files Production Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Letterbox - 1.85 Widescreen - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 - French Additional Release Material: Trailers: 1. FARINELLI 2. ORLANDO Interactive Features: Scene Selection Interactive Menus Text/Photo Galleries: Production Notes Talent Files
Product Notes
A passionate story of a French mother and her adopted daughter who fall in love with the same soldier during the communist revolution in colonial Vietnam. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actress--Catherine Deneuve. Academy Awards: Best Foreign Film.
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