The Lover
1h 55m
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud • Drama • With Tony Leung, Jane March, Melvil Poulpaud, Jeanne Moreau • 1992 • 112 minutes
Set in 1920s colonial Indochina, a pretty, virginal French teenager (Jane March) meets a handsome Chinese playboy (Tony Leung Ka Fai) from a respectable family. Going against the conventions of their respective societies, the lustful pair begin a torrid affair in a seedy Saigon neighborhood. Their strong attraction towards one another is only intensified by the illicit nature of their rendezvous. Given such circumstances, can their relationship last?
"It's tough, clear-eyed, utterly unsentimental, produced lavishly but with such discipline that the exotic locale never gets in the way of the minutely detailed drama at the center." —The New York Times