The Sea Wall

This glossy, soapy tale will inevitably trigger fond memories of the once controversial 1992 film The Lover, says Peter Bradshaw

• 
• • Peter Bradshaw
  • guardian.co.uk,
    
  • Thursday 19 November 2009

'Robust and enjoyable storytelling' ... The Sea Wall

1. The Sea Wall
2. Production year: 2008
3. Countries: France, Rest of the world
4. Cert (UK): 12A
5. Runtime: 116 mins
6. Directors: Rithy Panh
7. Cast: Gaspard Ulliel, Isabelle Huppert, Lucy Harrison, Randal Douv, Stephane Rideau, Vanthon Duong
8. More on this film

This glossy, soapy tale will inevitably trigger fond memories of the once controversial 1992 film The Lover, starring Jane March and Tony Leung: a teenage girl has an affair with a worldly older man in 1920s French Indo-China. That was based on a Marguerite Duras novel - this is based on a different yet equally autobiographical book by Duras about the same period in the author's life, but with a new emphasis on Duras's mother, played with typically fierce impassivity by Isabelle Huppert. She has made an unwise investment in Cambodian farmland, which is continually flooded because of breaches in the overwhelmingly symbolic sea wall. A wealthy Chinese older man is infatuated with her young daughter Suzanne (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), and a marriage would save their financial bacon, yet Suzanne's mother and brother (a smouldering, beefcakey performance from Gaspard Ulliel), are nettled and humiliated by the prospective bargain. Driven by ambiguous resentment, Huppert begins to incite local farmers to revolt against French rule. It's all a touch hammy, but robust and enjoyable storytelling.