Underplayed Gems

The Lover (1992)

The Lover poster
Original title
L'Amant
Directed by
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Genre
drama film, biographical film, melodrama
Country
Vietnam, United Kingdom, France
Runtime
1h 55m
Rated
R
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 767 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A teenage French girl living in 1920s Vietnam begins a secret affair with a wealthy Chinese man. Their relationship is intense but complicated by family disapproval and cultural differences.

eroticmelancholicslow-burnromanticsensualvisually lushnostalgictense

What happens

The Lover (French: L'Amant) is a 1992 erotic romantic drama film produced by Claude Berri and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras, the film details the illicit affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man in 1929 French Indochina. The protagonist is portrayed by Jane March and her lover is portrayed by Tony Leung Ka-fai. The film also features Jeanne Moreau as a narrator. Development began in 1989, with principal photography commencing in 1991. The film made its theatrical debut on 22 January 1992 in France, on 19 June in the United Kingdom, and in the United States on 30 October of the same year. The film was nominated for the 1992 Academy Award for Best Cinematography and won the Motion Picture Sound Editors' 1993 Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing — Foreign Feature". It was nominated for seven César Awards in France, winning the Award for Best Original Music. The film was a box office success in France and received generally positive reviews in Europe, while reviews from American critics were more mixed. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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