Indochine

Indochine

In this elaborate staging, punctuated by the scent of nostalgia, the viewer is shown through the eyes of its protagonist, Eliane, the image of an immortal past, the French empire lost in Indochine. Eliane recalls the colonial period, which coincides with her personal history and makes visible through her memories. The film offers a nostalgic vision clearly from the very beginning of her narrative; it is a recreation of an era: the colonization and decolonization. Also, this feeling of longing is reflected in the desire for a lost homeland, the true home of Eliane; she is inevitably anchored in eternal glory days of the French empire. The visual composition of the film also brings the viewer to this melancholic air, in a dreamy atmosphere that looms through the mist reminiscent of the beginning of this film and the delicate mist that gently glides through the mountains during Camille’s journey of discovering the true Indochine.

Treatment of colonialism in this film is uneven. In one scene Eliane hits one of her workers and the violent scenes of the colonial forces against insurgents. There are scenes that point to other aspects of understanding between the Asian elite and the French administration, the decline of the monarchy of Annam, the brutality of the prison, the life of farmers in rubber plantations, and the presence of native assimilated into the colonial bureaucracy. Also, the political, social and economic interrelationships between European colonies can be seen clearly in this film sequence of dinner at the Devries, where it shows the close links between landowners, military and government employees. Also, we perceive settlers linking with other ethnic minorities, in this case: Eliane’s Hindu driver and her cook.

In my opinion, this film focuses predominantly on creating a great fresh aesthetic rather than a more realistic historical background; the film is a great love study but with little focus on colonialism. The plot of the film focuses on a colonial fantasy rather than raise a critical review of the history of the period. Also, the only specific date appears in the last frame of the film, the data of the completion of the peace conference that ended fifteen years of affliction and the French Indochine divided into two states: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. I would rate this film a 4 out of 5 as a love story; in a historical context I would rate it a 3 out of 5.

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