Cheap Indochine (DVD) (Catherine Deneuve) (Régis Wargnier) Price

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Customer Reviews of Indochine

Romance, drama, tragedy, and exotic beauty
This exquisite film places romance, danger, emotional and political turmoil on a backdrop of beautiful photography. Catherine Deneuve plays a perfect role as Eliane, a single, powerful woman in charge of a plantation in what was then Indochina, and soon to be Viet Nam. The orphaned Asian baby girl she adopts grows up to fall in love with Jean Babtiste, the same man that Eliane is having an affair with. This point feels somewhat like a soap opera, but the movie quickly launches into so much more, with many plot elements that lead daughter Camille on a desperate and dangerous journey to follow Jean to a remote mlitary outpost.

When Camille witnesses an atrocity against a friend, she kills a Frenchman, and she and Jean become refugees. They are caught in the events of political chaos, surrounded by an uprising against the French, and surging Communism. Matters are complicated when Camille gives birth, and the family is torn asunder. I won't give away any more of the plot, but there is much more that happens. The movie's history lesson, as well as its emotional charge and colorful scenery in that Asian land, kept me glued to the screen.

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Love and History
From the opening sequence of a royal funeral to the last shot of Deneuve in Switzerland, this movie had me enthralled. It has everything that makes a movie exceptional: strong acting from its leads, beautiful cinematography, a romantic and emotionally wrenching love story, a tense historical backdrop, beautiful actors and a well-plotted storyline. This movie draws you in, pulling you into that beautiful and passionate world of 1930's Indochina. (Indochina was the collective name of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos when they were still under French control)

The story revolves around a powerful French, plantation owner Eliane (Deneuve), her adopted Indochinese daughter Camille (Pham) and the French naval officer who romances these two women, Jean Baptiste (Perez). The movie starts off with Eliane having an illicit affair with the young Jean-Baptiste, only to have her heart broken when the officer starts feeling claustrophobic in their relationship. Unfazed, Eliane carries on with her life, running a lucrative business and raising the lovely Camille into the ways of the French. But things go awry when Camille and Jean-Baptiste accidentally meet. Believing that Jean-Baptiste saved her life, Camille falls head over heels in love with her mother's former lover. Thinking it in her daughter's best interest, Eliane uses her influence on the government to have Jean-Baptiste sanctioned to some remote outpost of Indochina. But a strong-willed Camille defies family and society and ventures into the countryside, alone, to join Jean-Baptiste. Along the way, Camille discovers first-hand the sufferings of her people under the French. When the two young lovers reunite, it is under circumstances that forces them to flee and hide from the authorities. To make things more complicated, the communist movement is gaining momentum, embroiling Camille and Jean-Baptiste in a situation that is beyond their (even Eliane's) control.

I've seen this movie more times than I can count, and everytime, it never fails to move me. Deneuve is gorgeous as ever and her acting is superb. She plays the scorned lover, worried mother and stern manager with amazing elegance and restraint, without making her character look stiff. She definitely deserved that Best Actress nomination. Vincent Perez is perfectly cast as the passionate Jean-Baptiste. With his dark, good-looks and amazing acting talent, he easily conveys all the ambiguities, and later on, the passions of Jean-Baptiste. But the real discovery here is Linh Dam Pham. She is stunningly beautiful as Camille and does so much with so little. Her role is underwritten, but with her sincerity and talent, Camille comes off alive and full of passion. A mere glance here and there and you see everything that Camille is feeling. Her Camille is an unforgettable heroine.

There is also amazing chemistry between the actors. Deneuve and Perez sizzle in their scenes. It is easy to see the passion that drove these two into their affair. But the most unforgettable and emotionally-charged scenes are those between Perez and Pham. Simple gestures and exchanged looks convey a deep and abiding love between the two characters. Their scenes in Halong bay can melt any cynic's bitter-shell.

Apart from being a romantic epic, Indochine is a rare honest look at the events that led to Vietnam's independence from France. The bloodshed, the filth, the oppression...it's all there. Nothing is glossed over. Kudos to the French for their honesty and reflection.

This movie should definitely be in any person's video library. When the end credits start rolling, the images will continue to haunt you. By then, you'll be glad you own the DVD. You can play it over and over again to your heart's content.

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one of the best
Few films touch my mind, heart and soul at once. This one does. It presents strong, multidimensional characters in complex situations, and who change, grow, and cope with challenges and tragedy in sometimes surprising ways. I am stunned to see the reviews that saw the actors as wooden, the directing inconsistent, or the story lacking: they didn't see what I saw, suggesting that different experiences lead to different perceptions. This film can be seen at many levels and with many interpretations: among them, it showed how individuals may support tyranny with the best of intentions, oppression must fail, and change requires sacrifice...love may conquer, but perhaps not as one hopes for individual joy. There were no innocents, no ineffably strong heroes in this film. The characters portrayed people with whom I could relate, and understand, and cry for. Yet all of the central characters had (at least at some point) participated in enforcing oppression, or committed murder for various compelling reasons. It shows that those who accept the call to fight injustice may be compelled to sacrifice their personal happiness if not their lives-- and their motives are not necessarily noble. The film provides insight to the history that led to the Vietnam war, and relevant perspectives for reflecting on present problems of terrorism, cultural imperialism, and political justifications for war. As in life, there is no single correct view, no one correct line of action, only flawed humans, inadequate policies, and political systems dedicated to reinforcing a status quo. And Indochine shows the failures, the struggles and the human drama...will we ever learn from history?