The Lover (film)

"For the original novel, see The Lover"Infobox Film
name = The Lover


caption =
director = Jean-Jacques Annaud
writer = Marguerite Duras (novel)
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Gérard Brach
narrator = Jeanne Moreau
starring = Tony Leung Ka Fai
Jane March
Arnaud Giovaninetti
Frédérique Meninger
Melvil Poupaud
Lisa Faulkner
producer = Claude Berri
cinematography = Robert Fraisse
music = Gabriel Yared
editing = Noelle Boisson
distributor = MGM
budget =
released = flagicon|France 22 January 1992
runtime = 115 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0101316

"The Lover" is a 1992 movie based on the novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras. It is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Jane March and Tony Leung Ka Fai. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

A radio dramatisation, starring Diana Quick and Olivia Hallinan, which was rather more faithful to Duras's novel than the film, was broadcast in September 2007.

Plot summary

Set against the backdrop of French colonial Vietnam, "The Lover" reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a clandestine romance between a pubescent girl (Jane March) from a financially strapped French family and an older, wealthy Chinese man (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). The story is narrated by Jeanne Moreau, portraying a writer looking back on her youth.

In 1929, a 15 year old nameless girl is traveling by ferry across the Mekong Delta, returning from a holiday at her family home in the village of Sa Dec, to her boarding school in Saigon. She attracts the attention of a 32 year old son of a Chinese business magnate, a young man of wealth and heir to a fortune. He strikes up a conversation with the girl; she accepts a ride back to town in his chauffeured limousine.

Compelled by the circumstances of her upbringing, this girl, the daughter of a bankrupt, manic-depressive widow, is newly awakened to the impending and all-too-real task of making her way alone in the world. Thus, she becomes his lover, until an arranged marriage forces him into a choice between tradition, family, and honor on the one hand, and a love that he claims to be "too weak" to pursue on the other.

For her lover, there is no question of the depth and sincerity of his love, but it isn't until much later that the girl acknowledges to herself her true feelings.

Production

The film is noted for several sexually explicit scenes. (March had five body doubles, while Leung had two.)Fact|date=February 2008 It has also been alleged that one of the sex scenes in the film was unsimulated.Fact|date=February 2008 This was not immediately denied by the filmmakers for publicity reasons.Fact|date=February 2008

When the film opened, it gained notoriety for its portrayal of an under-aged protagonist. Jane March turned 18 during the filming of this movie.

Cast

*Jane March ... The Young Girl
*Tony Leung Ka Fai ... The Chinaman
*Frédérique Meininger ... The Mother
*Arnaud Giovaninetti ... The Elder Brother
*Melvil Poupaud ... The Younger Brother
*Lisa Faulkner ... Helene Lagonelle
*Xiem Mang ... The Chinaman's Father
*Philippe Le Dem ... The French Teacher
*Ann Schaufuss ... Anne-Marie Stretter
*Quach Van An ... The Driver
*Tania Torrens ... The Principal
*Raymonde Heudeline ... The Writer (end)
*Yvonne Wingerter ... The Writer (beginning)
*Do Minh Vien ... The Young Boy
*Hélène Patarot ... The Assistant Mistress

External links

*imdb title|id=0101316|title=The Lover