If you are looking for a film that transports you to a different time and place, one that leaves a lingering ache in your chest, The Lover is essential viewing.
In 1929 French Indochina, the forbidden affair between a poor French teenage girl and a wealthy Chinese heir ignites a collision of colonial shame, family desperation, and impossible love — but thirty years later, a phone call reveals that some bonds survive even the cruellest of separations. The Lover -1992 Film-
The end was always written. The patriarch in Phnom Penh summoned his son. The marriage was arranged to a suitable Chinese woman, a ghost in a red veil. The ferry back to France was booked. On the dock, the black limousine sat at a distance. He did not get out. He had already learned the lesson she was only beginning to understand: that some loves are not meant to be lived, only survived. If you are looking for a film that
The Lover is not just a romance; it is a memory piece. It deals with the haziness of looking back on a life-changing event. It asks: Was it love, or was it a desperate escape from poverty and loneliness? Perhaps it was both. The patriarch in Phnom Penh summoned his son
: The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and won a César Award for Best Music Written for a Film.
: The film is widely praised for its "splendid sets" and lush cinematography, which many critics feel make up for its sometimes banal narrative style.