Thanks to American cultural imperialism, people in the world today don't think of "Vietnam" as a country; they associate that word with the most embarrassing and traumatic episode of American history. Americans, on the other hand, could comfort themselves that their country wasn't the first great power to experience humiliation in that very part of the world. The events that preceded events universally known as Vietnam War are covered in Indochine, 1992 French epic melodrama directed by Regis Wargnier.
The plot begins in 1930, during the twilight years of French colonial rule in Indochina. Eliane (Denevue) is Frenchwoman who owns great rubber-tree plantation and there she happily lives together with elderly father Emile (played by Henri Marteau) and adopted Vietnamese daughter Camille (played by Linh Dan Pham). Eliane's idyllic lifestyle includes occasional use of opium and short romantic relationships. The last of them involves young French Navy Liuetenant Jean-Baptiste Le Guen (played by Vincent Perez). Gradually, the French idyll in Indochina crumbles due to the increasing displeasure of native population and native Western-educated elite picking various dangerous ideas, ranging from Communism to Nationalism. Vietnamese towns are subjected to occasional acts of terrorism, and during one of those occasions Le Guen saves Camille's life. Young woman desperately falls in love with dashing naval officer and thus starts the chain of events that would alienate her from Eliane just as her country gets alienated from France.
Indochine gives semi-nostalgic portrayal of plantation society unaware of massive historic changes bound to would destroy it and in doing so bears some resemblance to Gone with the Wind. However, director Regis Wargnier, who later would make couple more historical epics in 1990s, is hardly French colonial apologist. The other side of the coin - poverty of native Vietnamese and brutal repression – is also displayed. However, balanced approach to complex historical issue wasn't followed with the particular care for the plot and characters. Catherine Denevue looks splendid even in her fifties, but her icy beauty hardly compensates deficiencies of her character which is definitely not in the same league with Scarlett O'Harra. Often hyper-ventilating Vincent Perez is also burdened with the thankless role that for some reason seems too unreal for historical spectacle of such ambitions. The most interesting character in Indochine is Camille, but her story arc probably shows what is wrong with this picture - the lack of proper closure. The film ends in 1954 with Geneva Accords, the very event that the marked the only the start of another chapter in Vietnam's nightmare. Because of that, the film lacks catharsis and it would be better remembered for beautiful Vietnamese landscapes than for its story and characters. And, despite of 1993 Academy Award, historical epic with forgettable story and characters is always a failure.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 4th 2003)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/2731-indochine
Critic: AA