Rating: 
Summary: Gorgeous and tragic
Review: Perfectly cast Catherine Deneuve plays a wealthy French woman born and raised in Indochina prior to the Communist takeover of what becomes Vietnam in 1955. She has adopted a native girl as her daughter, and the tragedy begins to play itself out as the child grows up and becomes part of the revolution.
Lushly filmed, giving a realistic picture of Hanoi and the countryside before decades of war and destruction decimated Vietnam.
Rating:
Summary: A mother-daughter relationship amidst political tumult
Review: Catherine Deneuve plays a French planatation owner (Eliane) in colonial Vietnam whose relationship with the Vietnamese orphan girl (Camille) she adopted seems intended to allegorically mirror the political shift also depicted in the movie from a French colonial Vietnam to a nation struggling for liberation and identity. Superbly filmed and accompanied by a lush musical score, the film shows some stunning shots of the Vietnamese landscape particularly as Camille journeys through Vietnam after she flees her home. The movie is long (about 2 1/2 hours), and at times the emotions may seem played over the top. But Catherine Deneuve hits a poignant emotional climax towards the end of the movie, outside of the conference site of the Vietnam War peace talks in Paris. Well worth the over two hour wait.
Rating: 
Summary: unforgettable
Review: This movie was amazing. I first saw it when i was 9 years old, and I totally fell in love with Vincent Perez, who played Jeanbaptiste in the movie. 10 years later, the movie is still just as haunting. This is one of Vincent's fist movies, but you can already see that great energy and talent in him. He's a great screen presence,and he steals every scene that he's in.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic ending
Review: I'm a slow person so I don't really get it. Does Camille become a communist because she has seen so much suffering and she wants to change that, in addition to the fact that she was probably converted in her prison? But why can't she go back to her baby and her mom and get a brighter life for herself when she still can? If she truly loves her child, wouldn't she want to take care of him and have a good life? Both can be provided if they want to flee to France.
Rating:
Summary: THE OPERA OF THE FILM
Review: Last night I had a chance to watch this movie again. Somehow, for the first time, I felt as it was an opera. Music was there, the voices were there, the theme was there and everything was so perfect as an Italian opera of the greatest composer. I took my time, I really did, to find anything wrong with this film and I could not. Now, let me tell you that I am a picky one. I can take apart anything if I don't like it and sometimes if I like it. But this one was so bulletproof that I faild to find the whole in it. So, I guess, "Indocine" is one of very rare accasions in the cinematography when everything is perfect. How did they do it? I guess they just lived it. Well, if you have not seen it, you have to do it. This is not a movie to miss.
Rating:
Summary: CINEMA AT ITS FINEST
Review: This is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of cinema. The genius of this work is how it achieves both the finest romantic inspiration and an informative insight into the Vietnamese struggle for independence from French rule.
It is so different from all those racist American "Vietnam War" movies that have A) taught Americans to use the word "Vietnam" to mean a war and to imply the Vietnamese were responsible for what the USA did to them & B) this French film unlike any such American film gives an insight into Vietnamese people who Hollywood always ignores as if they don't live there. I notice many reviewers are VHS users OUCH!!! This DVD is a masterpiece in terms of STEREO SOUND and a glorious IMAGE quality. This IS cinema at its finest and most rewarding....
Rating:
Summary: great film!
Review: This film is truly superb! The filmmakers did a great job of contrasting Eliane DeVrie's opulent life to Indochina's suffering under colonial rule. Moreover, although DeVrie leads a somewhat shallow existence, I couldn't help but feel her inner depth. It was as if the rubber trees held her sorrow and wept for her - after all, the land and the people that she had come to love were on the verge of a major change of path. This film is also interesting because of the love triangle that takes place. Both DeVrie and her young daughter, CAmille love Jean-Baptiste. DeVrie, however, represents the old Indochina, and Camille represents the new emerging Indochina. And this is the conundrum of the film. While, I don't want to give away more of this film than necessary, "Indochine" is definitely a moving and intense story that is full of one of the most important emotions of the heart - love.
Rating:
Summary: A Foreign Film Fan
Review: I was AMAZED at some of the reviews I read. The simple fact of the matter is that this is one of the BEST films I have ever seen. It is sweeping in its beauty. The characters are strong, the scenery is beautiful, and story is enchanting!!. I LOVED it!
Rating:
Summary: Beauty and Sorrow
Review: This deeply felt and emotionally rich portrait of a country about to change forever is one of the most beautiful films ever made. It is elegant and opulent in it's visual presentation and subtle in it's human tale of heartbreak. This film has the majesty of morning sunlight on water we dare not shield our eyes from for fear we will miss one moment of its glory. Director Reigis Wargnier has created a masterpiece of epic beauty, showing us the country of Vietnam when it existed as the French colony Indochine. He shows how and why the communist uprising was so popular and the way of life it threatened. It does not make judgements but shows the human drama and the heartbreak caused by a way of life that existed and the one that was coming to change it. Wargnier accomplishes all this in a slow and visually stunning portrait of one family in Indochine centering around the magnificent performance of Catherine Deneuve as French rubber plantation owner Eliane Deveries and the equally terrific Linh Dan Phan as her adopted Indochine daughter Camille. The contrasts of Eliane's cool elegance and Camille's young and sensual beauty is like a mirror for the country itself as Wargner shows the difference between the French and those that serve them. Eliane runs her rubber plantation with the help of her 'coolies' and it appears to be her entire life except for her daughter Camille. Eliane's cool outward elegance only masks the repressed emotions she hides from others. Her affairs have been casual and she believes indifference is the secret to surviving love. But that indifference changes dramatically as she finally falls hard for young French Naval Officer Vincent Perez (Jean-Baptiste Le Guen). She throws herself at him as he draws away and discovers she is not enough for Vincent. There is much unrest at the class distinctions of Indochine. Eliane's Indochine is one of elegance and self-indulgence. It is a world of Fitzgerald and Gatsby. The world of the Indochene people is more severe. This film takes it's time showing us all that is beautiful about the country and slowly begins to show the darkness underneath that beauty when Camille falls in love with Vincent also. Eliane is stunned beyond words but not actions as she uses her clout to have him transferred to the farthest outpost so Camille can go through with an arranged marriage to Tanh (Eric Nguyen). But Eliane has underestimated her daughter's love for Vincent and she runs away to find him. Vincent has learned about the slave trade which provides Eliane and others like her with their workers in this remote French outpost and sees firsthand it's brutality. When Camille finds him it is during the picking of these workers and a tragedy forces both to flee to a place hidden and supposedly cursed where their love will bloom and a legend will start. There are some tender and moving moments and some true heartbreak involving a baby. As the communist revolution grows stronger and Camille is imprisoned, Vincent will meet Eliane once more. It is only when Camille is imprisoned that she is even sure she is alive. Her long time aquaintance Guy (Jean Yanne) has been searching for years as the legend of this young beauty has grown so that everyone in the country knows the story. Once released she will be the one to help change the country forever, but not before a heartbreaking meeting with her mother and a sacrifice of love. This film may indeed be slow but it is emotionally rich and the visual beauty of the country itself is magnificently captured. Deneuve's cool elegance is perfect for the part and her Oscar nomination was well deserved. Linh Dan Phan is wonderful as Camille as she goes from the innocence of dancing with her mother to her country's Joan of Arc. There are no judgements made here. This is a human film and not a political one. This film is what a Renoir painting would be if it could leave the canvas and find our hearts. Watch this film and stay with it. It is richly rewarding and certainly one of the finest films ever made. It's quiet beauty and sorrow you will not soon forget. You must see, and own, this magnificent film.
Rating:
Summary: Perfection!
Review: Quite simply, a perfect film! I've seen it a dozen times and love it more each time.
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