The Lover (L'amant) (1992)
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20% of critics liked it
(15 reviews) -
78% of users liked it
(8,294 ratings)
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 plays a French teenager sent to a Saigon boarding school, while Tony Leung is a 32-year… More 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 plays 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
- Directed By
- Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, Art House & International
R,
- In Theaters
- Oct 30, 1992 Wide
- On DVD
- Dec 11, 2001
- Studio
- MGM
Critic Reviews
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Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Scratch away the steamy, evocative surface, remove Jeanne Moreau's veteran-voiced narration, and you have only art-film banalities.
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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 of the two main actors.
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Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Never mind that in portraying passion, the two seem to be demonstrating the proper use of the Salad Shooter.
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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.
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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.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Jane March
as The Young Girl
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Tony Leung Ka Fai
as Chinese Man
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Frédérique Meininger
as Mother
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Arnaud Giovaninetti
as Elder Brother
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Melvil Poupaud
as Younger Brother
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Lisa Faulkner
as Helene Lagonelle
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Raymonde Heudeline
as Writer (end)
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Philippe LeDem
as French Teacher
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Xien Mang
as Chinese Man's Father
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Do Minh-vien
as Young Boy
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Helene Patarot
as Assistant Mistress
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Ann Schaufuss
as Anne-Marie Stretter
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Tania Torrens
as Principal
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Quach Van-an
as Driver
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Yvonne Wingerter
as Writer (beginning)
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Jeanne Moreau
as Narrator
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Frédéric Auburtin
as Liner Pianist
