What could have been a wonderful film about the twilight of French Indochina is irretrievably lost in the turgid pot boiler of a melodramatic boy-girl-mom 'love' triangle that seems to have been plotted and scripted (even in the original French) by a first year drama student. Cinematography 100% though: it makes you weep. Such an opportunity missed.
Perhaps the film should be considered as a precursor of the late 90s series of 'classic' films where location and the reproduction of period detail become the focus of the production, overlooking the need for realistic - or at least believable - dramatic progression. The characters are beautiful people (Catherine Deneuve is spectacular as always), the location shots are wonderful, but the storyline is only just this side of trite. The film could be used as a classroom example of style-over-substance.
Perhaps the film should be considered as a precursor of the late 90s series of 'classic' films where location and the reproduction of period detail become the focus of the production, overlooking the need for realistic - or at least believable - dramatic progression. The characters are beautiful people (Catherine Deneuve is spectacular as always), the location shots are wonderful, but the storyline is only just this side of trite. The film could be used as a classroom example of style-over-substance.