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Jane March, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Frédérique Meininger, Arnaud Giovaninetti, Melvil Poupaud ... see more see more... , Lisa Faulkner , Raymonde Heudeline , Philippe LeDem , Xien Mang , Do Minh-vien , Helene Patarot , Ann Schaufuss , Tania Torrens , Quach Van-an , Yvonne Wingerter , Jeanne Moreau , Frédéric Auburtin

The Lover is director Jean-Jacques Annaud's adaptation of Marguerite Duras' minimalist 1984 novel. Set in French Indochina in 1929, the film explores the erotic charge of forbidden love. Jane March pl... read more read more...ays a French teenager sent to a Saigon boarding school, while Tony Leung is a 32-year Chinese aristocrat. They look at each and they both see a blinding white flash; it's kismet. He offers her a ride in his limousine and soon they meet in his "bachelor room" where they revel in a wide variety of creative sexual encounters. However, they both realize their love is doomed. She comes from a troubled family that includes a mentally-disturbed mother (Frederique Meininger) and drug-addicted brother (Arnaud Giovaninetti). It also appears that her family would not approve of an interracial tryst. But then neither would his family, since in order to inherit his father's wealth, he must not break from a traditional Chinese arranged marriage. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Flixster Users

78% liked it

8,120 ratings

Critics

20% liked it

15 critics

R, 1 hr. 56 min.

Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Release Date: October 30, 1992

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DVD Release Date: December 11, 2001

Stats: 622 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (622)

  • flixsterman
    February 5, 2011
    flixsterman
    On the whole, L'amant strikes me as aloof and disconnected. It has aspirations of being elevated and artsy but offers no reason for empathy or audience connection with the characters. In the end I didn't really care whether or not the two lovers stayed together or parted ... read moreways. A beautiful but rather hollow film.
  • thmtsang
    June 16, 2010
    thmtsang
    This movie is set in 1920s Saigon. On a chance encounter on a ferry crossing a rich Chinese man in his 30s meets a French school girl. They start an affair. He loves her but she seems to stay with him for his money as her family are poor. He wants to marry her but is forbidden be... read morecause of their race and his father has planned an arranged marriage for him. She leaves for France but he never forgets her. Movie content is a little uneasy at times. Also sexually explicit.
  • ebs90
    April 4, 2009
    ebs90
    Another great Annaud oeuvre. I love the book and this film was very faithful to Marguerite Duras's wonderful, evocative narration. I was very skeptical because so much of Duras's sad, beautiful work is often too abstract, contradictory, ambiguous, and yet Annaud did manage to mak... read moree episodes linear, comprehensible, but not trivial. There's still so much properly left unsaid about the relationship of a 15 year old French girl and a 32 year old Chinese man. It was quite a relief, actually, to have so much vague, fascinating content put in images, and feelings incarnated in real people.
    Jeanne Moreau's voice was exactly the type of voice I wanted to hear in an adaptation of L'Amant. Contained, breathy, grave. Tony Leung Ka Fai was also, quite honestly, an accurate choice to play the lovesick man. His performance is one of the most captivating things about the movie, apart from the cinematography and the richness of the story itself.
    It was a very pleasant surprise, I didn't think I would like it. It's beautiful.
  • Redlats
    November 20, 2007
    Redlats
    A portrayal of a relationship between a pubescent girl (Jane March is 18 but looks much younger) and an older Chinese guy. Besides the intense sex scenes, one of the images that stays with me is their make out apartment. It is in the middle of the city with all the noises of lif... read moree going by just outside the shutters.

    You feel for them both.
  • deano
    February 1, 2007
    deano
    Average erotic-drama tale of a schoolgirl's affair with a wealthy young Chinaman in 1920's Vietname has obviously been translated word-for-word from a cheap phrase book. Psst!: An unknown French actress later claimed that she had doubled for Jane March in the sex scenes - ... read morethat's the truth.
  • jimbotender
    April 5, 2010
    jimbotender
    Maybe I'm overtly drawn by its sensuality.I confess,it really is so natural and free-spirited like many condemned that movie's emotion.I just can't stop praising it though for the gradual magnetism despite the fact March isn't the ideal "lover".
  • mvieaddict
    March 26, 2009
    mvieaddict
    The sex scenes are indeed graphic, but by no means done in bad taste or just for the sake of sex. The film is much more than about lust, it is about two lovers who found refuge in each others arms. Jane March and Tony Leung gave great performances, showing the conflict of emotion... read mores that they had to endure. Beautifully paced storyline with great atmosphere and soundtrack. It will make this a worthwhile movie experience.
    Very highly recommended.
  • donnarenee2006
    August 28, 2008
    donnarenee2006
    Damn, this movie was sensationally erotic! A true gem in this amazing well written masterpiece. You just have to see it for yourself!
  • ileo
    December 12, 2007
    ileo
    The best movie ever!!
  • qtmemoe
    May 11, 2007
    qtmemoe
    As far as the Romance genre is concerned...I have never seen a better one in modern film making. The chemistry between these 2 was bonechilling. I couldn't believe it. I was enthralled from the beginning and cried at the end.

View All The Lover (L'amant) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Scratch away the steamy, evocative surface, remove Jeanne Moreau's veteran-voiced narration, and you have only art-film banalities. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Annaud and his collaborators have got all of the physical details just right, but there is a failure of the imagination here; we do not sense the presence of real people behind the attractive facades ... Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Never mind that in portraying passion, the two seem to be demonstrating the proper use of the Salad Shooter. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
January 24, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Too bad that the film is marred by the vices of international productions, as it deals with issues seldom shown in American movies, such as the power of sexuality. Full Review

Boo Allen
March 14, 2003
Boo Allen, Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Stylish if somewhat tedious study of a young Vietnamese woman who falls under the spell of an older dandy.

Steve Rhodes
January 1, 2000
Steve Rhodes, Internet Reviews

The worst part of the dialog is given to the writer. She has to say one pedantic line after another, and overall, the narrator's part is just too wordy. Full Review

January 1, 2000
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The only moderately interesting scene here is a traditional Chinese wedding toward the end, which, of course, is cut short. Full Review

Vincent Canby
September 7, 2004
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

October 30, 1992
Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

Chuck O'Leary
September 21, 2005
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily

No review available.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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