French Female Literature - Movie Review Example

French female literature The Lover is an adaptation of director Jean-Jacques on the Marguerite Dura’s’ minimalist novel of 1984. The film was set in French Indochina in 1929 and explores the erotic charge of prohibited love. Jane March is among the casts who play a French teenager brought to a Saigon boarding school. Tony Leung, on the other hand, is a 32 years old Chinese aristocrat. The two look at each other and see a blinding white flash. Tony Leung offers her a ride in his car and after a short while, the two meet at his room. At this point, they revel in a variety of ingenious sexual encounters. Unfortunately, they realize that their love is doomed. Jane comes from an unstable family that includes Frederique Meininger, a mentally disturbed mother, and Arnaud Giovaninetti, a drug addicted brother. Jane’s family would not approve of an interracial meeting and so was the family of Tony. He was bound to the traditional Chinese marriage which in turn would allow the inheritance of his father’s wealth. Introduction “The Lover”, is a 1992 drama and a film produced by Claude Berri and was directed by Jean-Jacques. With reference to the semi-autographical novel of 1984, written by Marguerite Duras, the drama details the illicit affair between wealthy Chinese man and a teenage French girl. Jane March portrays the teenage protagonist while actor Tony Leung portrays her lover. Although the drama production had begun in 1989, the filming is found to have started in 1991 and made its theatrical debut in 1992. The film received much positive review from its general audience and some negative reviews from the American critics. The cinematography and the film performance of the film were generally praised. Plot The main characters are the young girl and the Chinese man. The daughter of a fearful, bitter, and a poverty stricken family, is a pretty waif who puts on an old silk dress and paints her lips red when out on her mission. The girl comes from a French family which lives in Vietnam. Her mother is a local children teacher. Her dream of being a writer is determined by her excellence as a student. According to the film, she meets the man when crossing a river on a ferry, after her school holiday. The man’s father is a Chinese businessman who had much investment in real estates. Notably, the father had returned from Paris during their encounter. The man gets more fascinated on seeing the girl stand by the rail in a crowded ferry and makes a step towards her. They have a conversation and offer her a ride in his limousine. The girl accepts the invitation and is driven to Saigon (Halliwell and Leslie 78). At the beginning of the film, the girl gives her age as fifteen but lies to the man that she was seventeen. The girl was also impressed by the Chinese fresh graduate on lying to her that he was thirty two. On the following day, the man waits for the girl outside her school compound and takes her to a room he had rent ii which they make love. On realizing that they cannot make it together for marriage, they fell into a relationship that holds on to responsibilities that come with immediate commitments. The girl realizes that she was supposed to return to Paris after a short time while the man was only allowed to marry a Chinese woman. The girl therefore would go to the man’s room every day after school. The girl’s family later discovers their relationship and encourages her to stick into it. This was for the reason that the man was wealthy and could pay for some of their debts. The Chinese man goes on to seek permission from his father that he should marry the girl. However, the father could not allow him marry a white lady. After some time, the girl boards a ship and leaves to France while on the other hand; the man was left to marry his arranged bride. However, the man could call her every time he visited France and tells her that his love for her will never die and that he would never stop loving her (Duras et al. 89). On analyzing the casts, Jane March plays the role of the young French girl. Tony Leung Ka-fai represents the Chinese man in the film while the mother’s role as in the story is acted by Frederique Meininger in the film. Arnaud Giovaninetti acts, in the film, as the elder brother while Lisa Faulkner takes the part of Helene Lagonelle. The Chinese man’s father is represented by Xiem Mang in the film while the French teacher featured in the story is represented by Philippe Le Dem. Production On adapting the novel into the screen play, Jean-Jacques, the director and the fellow writer changed the girl’s age from fifteen years to seventeen before they had made the decision to reveal in the beginning that she was fifteen and that she would lie to her lover that she was seventeen. They tried to maintain the original structure and literary tone of the novel. The director, Annaud and the scenarist never allows the background politics overpower the sensuality or the landscape to overwhelm the characters. They make “the lover” a beautiful photographed film whereby the surrounding nastiness simply heightens the unusual style of the two lovers. The film portrays some sense of reality on the display of the superb skin of Jane and tony. This keeps us wondering whether it was pornography. In the film, the limousine car is seen to speed along the dykes and the dusty roads ending to Saigon. It brings in a picture of someone who moves out with a person of twice her age. The film brings us an imagery look and an analysis of the lives of the lovers. The two lovers have got different lifestyles which would fit one another. The guy is portrayed as a rich man while the girl is seen to be a poor girl. The two characters are seen to get affected by the big event in the larger world. The most critical scene is when they discuss their hopeless situation in a desert at a ruined plantation as it appears in the film. The girl explains her painful story to the Chinese man who finally decides to explain his feelings to his father. The situation is worsened by his father’s response that he would rather consider him dead than engaging into an affair with a white girl. In this film, the Vietnamese are brought into the background and makes up the paddy workers, market vendors, servants and the landscape. The two lovers are sued to represent two competing colonial cultures (Craddock andJames 56). On a flashback, The Chinese man’s family appears to have been displaced by the Japanese. His father had sold his estates and jewels to the Japanese, an act that might have led to his mother’s death. He is trapped by the Buddhist code of worship which commands his to do nothing apart from following the dictates of his father. The film explains much about sex and its accompanying politics. Politics in this case is in the measure of manufacturing lies. Lies are only generated when we are afraid of some unrefined truth. The French girl easily lies to her family. This demonstrates the typical sexual hunger and the need to break its ritual. Her brother seems to know better when he sees a diamond ring. He kept wondering why this Chinese man would give his sister a diamond ring that belonged to his dead mother (Duras et al. 109). . The brother is seen to grab some discarded panties belonging to Jane and claims that they had the smell of a Chinese. The humor in this instance takes us back to the black absurdity. Hate is mostly associated with poverty. These two fight, Jane and her brother out of hatred that she is now the provider while their mother cannot give him enough money (Visions Magazine 79). The films portrays some brief moments of the poor family as they struggle to survive on the income of a schoolteacher. The mother seems to favor the brutish brother for untold reasons. After sometime, the family is invited for a dinner at a restaurant. Jane in this particular scene is seen to have left their taboo and embraced Chinese style. She gets drunk and starts to behave badly. This arouses the tempers of her brother who challenges the Chinese man for a fight. However, he does not get into it. The lovers drive back to the bachelor’s room. Here, they are seen to engage into some grudge sex. He rips her panties off and goes straight to having sex in full glare of the camera. The film portrays the real character of these lovers (Kurlat et al. 90). For example, when the mother asks to know whether Jane went out with the Chinese man for money, Jane says “yes”. Her mother nods with an expression that reveals that she understands otherwise. Throughout the film, there is an outstanding design. There are always oblique symbolisms and some slight details in the action. For example, when the French girl puts her lips on the glass of the limousine window, she forms a kiss to which he responds. This interprets the action of two people who reach out from different cultures and solitudes. The lover’s moods are also sympathetic to the emotional part of the story. As characters, their mode of acting contradicts their gender. Tony, who is fashionably dressed, is the trembling lover while Jane, the casually dressed is the ambiguous lover. The Chinese man seems to be in love while the French lady does not appear to be in love. The significant aspect within the movie is in the representation of reality as it is described in the novel. The author of the story tries to pass out the character and the type of love that is carried out by the lovers. On looking at the film, reality is represented on the expressions of the two characters. The fact that their love would not lead them to marriage evokes some weird character in the girl. She abruptly changes her intention for the love and makes some quick thoughts on their love. She has to act quickly. Quick enough before the Chinese man gets married to his wife as dictated by his culture (Adler and Laure 117). This movie is as interesting as the story. This movie is basically about taboos and tasting of the forbidden fruit. In other words, it is about sex. However, it has got other strong depictions of emotions that are involved in the affair. Social and racial prejudice, guilt and shame as well as love are explored when the lovers sense that there can be no future. What comes next is some motional detachment that is born from necessity. The two lovers begin to withdraw from each other. However, the Chinese man confesses that his love for her would never come to an end despite that he is married to another woman as directed by his taboo. Reading the story and the movie makes a personal moving experience. “The lover” movie has got more to do with love experiences than for graphic love scenes. It is a reminiscence story that analyses a shameful secret and a hidden love. This is fostered through numerous hardships and burns through the mind of the narrator. It inflicts some memorable painful encounters with first lover who greatly shaped her life. The film is basically set to explore the story and to produce a clear image of all encounters of the lovers. Jane and Tony, on the other hand are among the casts within the film who take up the critical parts of the movie. Love, relationship and cultural aspects are among the themes portrayed in the story. These are further clarified in the film. The two characters are meat to show up in the movie with real demonstration of all that is intended and explained throughout the story. Works cited Adler, Laure. Marguerite Duras: A Life. London: Orion Publishing Co, 1900. Print. Craddock, James M. Video Source Book: A Guide to Programs Currently Available on Video in the Areas of. Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2006. Print. Duras, Marguerite, and Barbara Bray. The Lover. London: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print. Halliwell, Leslie. Halliwells Film, Video & Dvd Guide. New York: HarperPerennial, 2004. Print. Kurlat, Marta M. Kim Ki-Duk: On Movies, the Visual Language. New York: Jorge Pinto Books, Inc, 2009. Print. Visions Magazine: Film/television Arts. Boston, MA: Hybrid Productions, Inc, 1992. Print. Read More