INDO-CHINA
I had never left Indo-China,
Camille's hand was ice-cold in mine,
Her mother and father were dead,
They had been
my dearest friends,
Their plane had crashed into the ocean,
I had no children,
she no parents,
The little princess of Annam became my daughter,
I adopted her,
Prince N'Guyen, his wife and I had been inseparable,
Such is youth, believing
that the world is made of inseparable things:
men and women, mountains and plains,
humans and gods, Indo-China and France,
I inherited her parents' lands,
which added to what my father and I had,
The Lang-Sai rubber plantation became one of Indo-China's biggest,
It was my domain:6000 hectares of rubber trees,
No!
Oh! Watch it!
Mama! We'll never get it right.
In a bad mood again?
Me get rid of Mr. Emile's new girl.
Get rid of Hoa, why?
Too greedy, too costly, bad girl, mouth too big...
Always wants more... today rice, tomorrow pig,
after tomorrow buffalo.
Me know many girls ready to replace her...
Very nice, eat less...
No, this one you keep...
Father's never felt better,
he might even smile soon.
Congaie bad, love cost too much.
He's happy though.
He may never love again...
Your father trains them a lot?
Every morning the past month.
They're too tired to work on the plantation, but he's happy.
Rowing takes beasts of labour.
Harder, harder...
How can they in this heat?
Yours, I can understand, but mine?
I still hope my sailors beat them!
Come now, Admiral, it's my crew.
You shouldn't give these people ideas of victory.
I bet you 2000 piastres.
A deal. But you're going to lose.
Oh! Stop it!
In your condition!
Some days you drive me crazy.
It's been a week now.
And what we do at naptime?
That's not making love.
Pregnant during monsoon season! No thanks.
You're not bearing.
Come on! Time to go all out!
Ah! Madame Devries, how awful for Mr. Emile!
All that training, only to lose!
As Raymond says, the Indo- don't have the physique. .
Keep calm, Yvette. They haven't lost yet.
We won!
You owe me 2000 piastres.
Who won? I couldn't see.
Ladies and gentlemen, the race
has been won by Madame Eliane Devries' crew,
The line-up:
Lui Van Min, Phan Van Dong,,,
Cowswain, Mr, Emile Devries!
A statue ofJoan of Arc, in stucco.
Attributed to a student of Bouscasse.
Opening bid, 600 piastres.
Sorry I'm late, Madame.
I almost bought a bedroom suite, but I only liked the bed.
Buy the bed!
No. The furniture should stay together,
it'll bring good luck to the person who buys it.
You're poetic. That's it exactly, Yvette,
you're a poetic person.
This is what you came for?
Has everyone seen it? Thank you, Mr. Gabriel.
Painted with great sensitivity. Starting price, 300.
300.
- 400. - 420.
450.
460.
500.
Madame, please let me have it.
I hear you are rich, I am not.
This painting means a great deal to me.
Sit down, Sir! Your bid please.
Well?
Wait!
Stop it. How much do you need?
Let go of me!
Tell me why you like it,
and you can have it.
Enough! Madame Devries? 500?
I painted this landscape dozens of times as a boy.
But I was never satisfied.
The hill and valley were invented by the artist.
A boy doesn't know that the world
has to be changed.
I need this painting.
I'm suffocating in Saigon, there's no ocean here.
I cannot parade my feelings before strangers, as you do.
Especially when something moves me.
Fine.
The benefit of the doubt then.
Sold!
She has a collection!
Sold!
Mind your own business.
I no trafficker.
Never traffic opium. Officer know me.
My wife sick,
I go get medicine.
What time is it?
8:09, lieutenant.
No boats on the delta after 8. You know what to do.
Stop it! He has papers!
You're insane!
They didn't do anything!
In a year they've drained you.
You're as glassy-eyed as someone lying in an opium den.
This country's sucking you dry!
They'll drown. Proud of yourself?
I obeyed orders. I leave indulgence to you.
You're like my father.
He always said the same thing: "follow your heart".
And then he'd disappear somewhere.
He caused us nothing but grief.
I'll never be like him!
No one's stealing what's in my not even eternal Asia!
No one!
You wanted to run away...
You made me beat you.
A mother doesn't like to hit her children.
You're my father and mother.
What are you doing here?
I'm lost. I must have made a wrong turn.
Where are you going?
I'm looking for the occupants of a sampan sunk by the navy.
I hear it happened nearby.
So you're the one going from village to village.
You're wasting your time.
No one will talk to you.
Know anything?
Maybe.
His name is Liem.
Let him go, you're scaring him.
His father's fine too.
I saw him last night.
We talked very late.
I ordered that sampan sunk.
I thought the boy had drowned.
I even dreamt about it.
Why did you do it?
Because I had to.
You were right to!
There was opium aboard.
They are traffickers.
Bao, the man you sank, is a reputed supplier.
His father was before him, and his son will be too.
But if you repeat what I said, I'll deny everything.
It doesn't bother you the way they look at you?
Why? They're my coolies.
They're also men.
I'm just their boss.
Giving orders is a man's job.
That's what men usually say.
What's wrong?
I'm lapsing back to childhood.
I had to stay like this for hours.
My head would spin, I'd start dreaming.
Here.
About what?
The admiral who defeated the Turkish fleet at Lpante.
He was 23.
The hero of all Europe. Don Juan of Austria.
And what did you dream about?
I wanted to be a boy.
And now?
I don't need to dream. Everything I love is right here.
Wait...
Stay still.
I think it's stopped now.
Don't get lost this time.
The Chief's back from his trip.
What mood is he in?
It's always good to see you.
A secret? Wilth all these people?
Luxury... mystery...
All it takes to seduce a woman.
You look tired.
This time it's serious.
In Canton the offensive's ready.
Communists and nationalists in complete agreement.
Wilth Moscow's blessing.
So, to us!
Now you don't have a choice.
You'll need protection.
Marriage is perfect for that.
- People are looking. - I don't care.
No.
No, what?
For the marriage, no.
Very well. To friendship.
Mama,
Tanh will forget me in Paris with all those French girls.
Honestly, how do I look?
Perfect.
You always say that.
Are all French girls light-skinned like you?
It's not their colour that's important.
It's this! The taste, the fruit.
A child who eats only apples
can't be like me.
I'm Asian.
A mango.
When will Tanh be back?
Not till next year.
He still loves Paris?
He asks if I love him.
Well?
What's it like to be in love?
When it happens, you'll know.
I wanted to protect Camille,,,
She knew nothing about me,
the men I'd known,
those I'd loved,,,
I'd had casual affairs,
The kind one forgets,
Jean-Baptiste came to meet me in our house in Saigon,
My father had never sold it,
It was full of childhood memories,
Waiting for you, I thought:
At 4 he won't be here.
He'll be a little late.
So I thought I'd tidy up,
close the house and leave.
As if nothing had happened.
Our encounter, our rendezvous here, all erased.
Jean-Baptiste...
There's still time for this not to happen.
I should have fled,
Yet nothing existed but him,
I know he loved me too,
Prepare him the opium.
Hello, Sir.
Eliane's not here.
Yes, Thursday she's at the bank.
She'd brought no one here in years.
I'm going to tell you a story. - I'm not interested.
Oh no you don't! You're in my house!
Now listen!
Father was so afraid of losing me,
He was capable of anything then,
Old Tchung told me one day
that father had offered Jean-Baptiste money,
How much?
How much is your daughter worth?
Humiliate me, pay me!
Say a price, a figure!
100,000? 200,000?
I saw how the steward, the coolies, the bankers
were all at her beck and call!
So it'll cost you!
500,000!
If I leave her to you,
Say it! I want to hear it!
Yes... 500,000.
No, Sir, such things don't have a price.
You have your life to live! Not her! Not me! Leave her!
Jean-Baptiste?
Mister Officer gone.
When will he be back?
Me not know.
"Flee, jealousy, tortures...
Wherever you are your soul shall embrace mine."
Now, dear archangel, your turn...
No, stop it.
I'm trying my luck.
An apparition...
What are you doing here?
I've been looking everywhere for you...
Talk to me, Jean-Baptiste, talk.
There will always be hours, days, weeks to myself.
All to myself.
Understand?
It's the same for you.
We're two people.
I need you.
You're part of my life now. I need your voice,
your softness, your hands...
Protect me.
You must protect me.
Stop it! This isn't you!
I want the world, not just a little piece of land.
I want to see the world.
Problems, Madame?
No, why?
Because you're crying.
No!
Go away.
You're mad.
Forgive me.
Jean-Baptiste!
Stop!
Stop!
Get out.
Satait, out, please.
Life went on as before,,,
The sound of footsteps on dead leaves,
the sap oozing from the bark,
and what I loved most, which most people don't like,
The smell of rubber,
I didn't believe it...
I'm so used to Guy's jokes.
- When did you arrive? - Two days ago.
Staying in Saigon?
He's been deported from France.
What did you say?
Deported. Definitively.
But why?
She knows about Yen-Bay?
No.
She has a right to know!
3 months ago, Indo-Chinese troops massacred their French officers.
So the assassins were executed.
The case was closed.
Not at all! There were demonstrations in Paris.
The demonstrators were jailed. Case closed.
Not at all! It triggered a movement of solidarity.
They marched up to the Elise! And Tanh was with them.
So he was kicked out too.
And now?
It's over now. I was bad, I've been punished.
On the boat coming back
I thought about our childhood here.
Soon this land will be ours again.
I know my son.
Whims of youth, bad influences in Paris.
I can talk to him.
Money?
He'll be a merchant like me.
And he'll be rich, richer than the French engineers.
I didn't want him to go to France,
but you and Guy insisted so much.
Young people like Tanh are this country's future.
An Indo-Chinese elite must be created.
We're the elite, because we're rich.
Tanh's an intellectual, not a businessman...
He has to grow up!
What is it?
I've cried a lot,
my buffalo's dead and my boy sick.
He's taken the remedy?
Yes, but he's hungry and I need money.
You gamble it away. Send your wife.
I'll give her rice and medicine.
You get nothing.
Champagne?
No thanks, aunt.
Camille's mother was my cousin. We wanted our children to marry.
When you adopted Camille,
that was my one condition.
The ties must not be broken.
She's my daughter now and I want her to be happy.
Two boys, they'll give us two boys!
We'll be happy in our old age...
The older one will marry a rich girl,
and our children will take care of us.
And when our time comes, we'll die content,
our children and grandchildren at our side.
I hadn't forgotten Jean-Baptiste,
What did people know about us?
Certainly not my distress,
I hid my feelings so well,
We lived in peace, in an illusion,
The dream was shattered on the "Day of Tranquillity",
Father and I were the only invited by the mandarin,
They've killed the mandarin!
It's the communists!
Run! They'll kill us all!
Madame Devries, Mr. Emile! Hurry!
The fire was no accident...
All the rubber's burned up.
When can work start again?
The vats must be cleaned.
- Tomorrow. - Why not now?
They're afraid to go inside.
Afraid?
Boom. Danger.
No work.
- No! I think I heard shots. - You think?
Make up your mind!
No danger! Back to work!
Start the generator!
It's too dangerous. Wait for the police.
Kim, the generator!
They're alive! No danger!
Get going!
I don't want to go to school Monday.
When I'm not with you
I imagine horrible things:
the house on fire,
you and grandpa dead.
You mustn't be afraid.
They've won if we're afraid.
Guy said "prepare for cruelty".
The crank!
Fired for a minor illness.
After years in her service, it's inhuman.
Say what you will, she's got a lot of nerve.
She enjoys humiliating.
I thought she was a friend! - Shut up.
She'll get hers all right.
Lack of love's never a good thing.
It's the worst illness of all.
Go on with your superior airs.
The truth is you have no friends.
If the trees were human, they wouldn't produce for you.
I pity you, you have nothing to look forward to.
Everyone will leave you.
It smells. It's hard to breathe here.
Goodbye Madame.
People are fooled by you.
Sure, you're beautiful.
But it's sad when you're not beautiful inside.
Get in, Raymond,
we have no business here.
It smells.
My respects.
You'll talk soon enough.
One communist per 100 arrests is the average.
My respects, Sir. Inspector Perrot from the back-up contingent.
What'd you get out of him?
Take off his handcuffs.
Your father came to see me.
You've always been a respectful Rebelling against the authorities
is as bad as rebelling against your father and ancestors.
Perrot...
When I drop him, you slap.
Harder!
I know everything, Kao. Go back to your meetings.
Nothing changes. Except you report back to me in a week.
If you don't, you go to Poulo-Condore prison.
Your father and brothers too.
Got it?
Stop! To the side.
What's going on?
Stop!
Get the doctor! Hurry!
It's the prisoner's blood.
I'm alive?
You saved my life.
Leave her...
What is it?
What is it?
Is it serious?
Mama, I can't marry Tanh.
I love another man.
He saved my life, I love him.
Help me, mama... Please.
My darling, my Camille... Of course I'll help you,
I promise.
Who is it?
If it's not him I marry, I'll die.
But who is it?
The officer who saved me...
His name is Jean-Baptiste.
And does he love you?
He will. I'm sure of it.
How can you be sure?
You can't understand.
No one can.
He's always with me. He talks to me, he smiles at me.
He sweeps me off my feet, takes me in his arms.
I'm his.
Enough eggs?
Hurry. Want to ruin everything?
He's not here... He won't come.
Yes he will... He'll arrive last so that everyone'll see him.
I'm sure he's hiding nearby looking at you.
So this is the surprise!
A Yule log, like in France!
What a Christmas!
Coming?
Fan it, fan it! The heat will melt the record.
It's not made for this climate.
I want to be alone with you.
In a chalet
in the mountains.
Just like in fairy tales.
Stay here. No!
I leave Saigon tomorrow.
Where to?
Haiphong.
Perfect. The ocean. You'll see the world.
Not of my own free will. Transferred...
Thanks to you! Awoman decides my fate.
That's order in your colonies?
My daughter's crazy about you.
What?
Or she thinks she is, anyway.
I barely know her!
It's not you, it's her.
Camille is young, romantic. She thinks you saved her life.
But I didn't do anything!
You won't be able to resist her.
I wanted to save her from you.
I don't want her to think love means suffering.
Good night.
Save her from me? You want revenge!
You can't bear freedom!
Let me go...
- You can't let others live! - Let me go!
You think you have a monopoly on life,
that you control me, Camille, your coolies.
How awful to be like that!
You stifle her the way your father stifled you!
You treat people like trees! You acquire them and drain them!
You're vultures!
You're insane!
Follow me at once.
Lili, you're coming with me.
No, I'm cold.
I'm not to be disturbed.
Your driver brought your clothes. Feeling better?
Yes, a little better.
Bring us tea.
And you,
prepare the betel.
I was at school.
It's disastrous. Camille's in quarantine.
The students call her names:
"little congaie"! "Chink"!
The Mother Superior had to isolate her.
I've got to go get her.
She refuses to see you.
You spoke to her?
Yes.
I don't care, I'm going.
Listen, Lili...
We'll marry them right away.
I'll take them to the palace.
The court must give its agreement, it's the custom.
I'll talk to Camille, you both must be reconciled.
Come join us in Hué.
I can't promise it...
You must forget that man.
I'll never understand French people's love stories.
So much folly, fury, and suffering.
It reminds me of our wars.
You know the secret, I've already told you.
I know... indifference.
After that Christmas night,
Jean-Baptiste's transfer became a sanction,
He was sent to a remote outpost,
Dragon Island, in Ha-Iong bay,
I thought he would refuse to go,
That he'd quit the Navy,
I thought I knew him, but I didn't,
Sheer mockery, my friend,
sheer mockery.
You either fight it, or you do as I do,
you revel in it.
You can become a hero here, but no one will know.
A mere drop of water in this ocean of jade,
but it's your drop of water.
And our presence here?
Nothing.
Ghosts of the Empire!
From here, observation of foreign vessels,
a few sampans, fishermen...
Nothing.
The pirates stay outside the bay.
So we remind the world of our presence.
We fire the cannon from time to time.
Nothing much.
But once a month,
a celebration.
A real celebration!
The slave market.
Manual labour, volunteers, are recruited up north.
They have no choice, they're too hungry.
That's how we serve France!
The volunteers are brought here,
and we keep watch as buyers from the south pick workers
for the plantations of Cochin China.
All you have to do is be here.
For the first time I left matters
in someone else's hands,
Madame Minh Tam had arranged everything,
Camille was with her, to marry Tanh,
She was in the palace for the days of purification
that court tradition
imposes on fiancés,
As a European, I was not allowed at the ceremony,
But Minh Tam had obtained a meeting with Camille
the day before the engagement,
I saw emperor Ming Mang's tomb.
He was 25 when he began for his burial place.
He found the place, which resembled a dream he'd had.
So he designed it.
He planted trees, flowers,
everything in gentle, continuous lines.
Not a single broken line.
And when the landscape was exactly like in his dream,
he said: "I can die now."
I dream of such a place too, but to live there.
This place exists, Camille...
it's yours.
The domain belongs to you.
Soon, you will be
my daughter.
She was so gentle,
so calm,
as if she had accepted her fate:
to marry the man meant for her.
In fact, she'd decided her future.
And which is why she looked so beautiful!
Tell them we know what we're doing!
I loved her more than life itself,
and I had never told her.
Now she was leaving for good.
She was joining Jean-Baptiste.
She had chosen,
and I hadn't wanted to see it,
I hadn't wanted to understand.
She was in love
the way one is the first time.
Nothing would stop her.
Go on.
They didn't arrest her in Hanoi.
She knew they'd be waiting for her.
I remembered her father's phrase:
"In Asia one does not die"...
So I hoped he was with her and would protect her.
Tai!
There's been no progress since yesterday.
Wait!
Wait!
What do you want?
I'm going north,
to the sea.
My name's Sao.
Sao!
It's for a family. That's enough.
You'll answer for this!
Camille's free!
It's her life, and her life to live as she wants.
I'm leaving too.
I dare you to say you're abandoning the altar of your ancestors!
On your knees... I order you!
Obedience has made us slaves.
The French taught me the words "freedom", "equality".
I'll fight them with it.
Farewell, mother.
Cholera. The north is cursed.
They're recruiting on Dragon for the plantations.
There, we'll find food and work.
I often dreamt about her,,,
I don't remember static dreams,
I pictured her walking through gently moving landscapes,,,
I had the impression they entered her eyes, like blood,,,
I thought: she has Indo-China inside her now,
We're saved, we're going to live.
The boats would pick up the volunteers at dusk,
They came by the hundreds, hoping for a better life,
The boats took them to Dragon Island at night,
So darkness would hide the shame of this human market,
This way.
Get down.
Come on, get down!
Darling!
They seem docile, squatting there.
One day they'll rise up and we'll have to leave.
What happened?
The start of an uprising.
You mean a riot!
They wanted to be together.
They started screaming bloody murder.
They had to be silenced.
But the child?
A public menace! Hysterical!
A devil. Out of control!
Calm down, they're looking...
No one saw what I did.
What's he doing? Picking a congaie?
Do something. Go get them.
Hurry up! Shit!
You're out of your mind!
Start the boarding!
Sao!
Sao!
Sao!
They hadn't done anything!
You killed them.
Shut up.
Go, Camille. Go fast!
Stop her! Stop the bitch!
Run!
Run fast!
Guards, take her to the fort!
Stay where you are!
Stop them before they attack!
Stop it, lieutenant.
That bitch killed him, she's mine!
She's under my protection!
You have no right!
Let go of me! I'm going to kill her!
I want her tried!
I'm the one to decide!
Get down there!
- Shoot. - Down.
Shoot.
Down!
Goddamn it! Shoot!
You're lying! You're a liar! My daughter's not a murderer.
Yes, a bullet in the head.
I had blood, brains all over me.
On my shirt, on my face.
Enough! Put it down.
That chink may be your daughter,
but she's a terrorist.
I saw the hate in her eyes.
Enough! If I catch her and that bastard,
they'll get what Hebrard got.
Two bullets in the head! Like dogs!
Alright, enough. Out.
I've got to find her.
Nonsense. Let me do my job.
The Corsican's briefed you?
You go too. Officially, under his orders.
But you report directly to me.
I love her like she was my own child.
Then why send Castellani?
He'll kill her.
Because he won't give up till he finds her.
But Minh will be there. Trust me!
What did they tell you?
I didn't answer my father, Camille was mine,
What did they want?
I couldn't talk about her to anyone,
I felt that my silence would protect her,
That it would conceal her murder,
that in time it would erase it,
They went into the labyrinth of Ha-Long bay,
A holy place for all Indo-Chinese,
Mountain people, peasants, fishermen in the Gulf of Siam,
all know of its existence, but have never seen it,
They know of the curse on these islands,
When I learned that Camille and Jean-Baptiste had gone there,
I read every book,
everything I could find,
They all say the same thing:
those strong or foolish enough to brave the curse
have never been seen again,
They become invisible to the rest of mankind,
Extraordinary,,,
They're alive.
Save her...
I want her to live.
Take them to the valley. I'll meet you. Tell no one.
For centuries my country has often been invaded.
But no foreigners know the access to this valley.
This is where we'll hide you.
You're not prisoners,
but you can leave only with me.
Don't be afraid, we're safe here.
I'm not afraid.
If you surrender now they'll pardon you.
Go see Guy. He'll help you. He'll say it's not your fault.
If you aren't here in the morning I'll understand.
The water's rising fast,
the cave will soon be flooded.
We'll return after the monsoon.
We have to go...
Goodbye.
Goddamn bloody country!
Can't that old monkey help us?
Instead of just bowing?
He bows because you are a respectable man. A white man.
Go get help.
Fast!
Have you been searching long?
Three months.
It's a very difficult task.
But there are things the women know
that we men don't.
Where are they?
Who here knows something?
That way?
Tall French soldier,
little Indo-Chinese girl?
Minh! Translate!
Finally, a lead.
Where are they?
They're playing with me!
Oh shit!
Had a good trip, Sir?
Useful, Minh. Useful as ever.
China is a great reservoir.
And you?
I'm talking to you.
Nothing... of course.
For 4 months we've been all over Tonkin.
Informers... nothing. Threats... nothing.
Reward money... nothing. It's clear:
They're in China or they've drowned.
It's time to call it off.
I give up.
Your job is to find them.
You'll find them, if it takes your whole life!
Inspector Castellani's right.
We won't find them.
"She rolls up in a ball"
"and nibbles her knees"
"That rubber gal"...
"All the things" "you can do with her!"
"She grabs you" "and you turn into mush!"
"She's something else!"
"She'll put you out of joint!"
This is your surprise?
"She's quite a number," "a funny little thing"
"She's the real thing," "and she suits every taste"
"When she wants to please you" "The things she'll do"
"Because she's quite a lure..."
"I'll tell you, just between us"
"Well, that rubber gal"
"Is me."
"Yes, that's what they call me."
"Next to me marshmallow" "is like wood"
"As for the snake woman" "I'm every inch as good as her"
"I'll do a cartwheel for you" "and pinch my cheeks too"
"I hop like a bird"
"I'm taunting you"
"I'm giving you the eye"
"But with my bellybutton..."
And how are you?
Okay.
You were right to bring me here.
She has a nice figure.
Ah! You noticed too?
The champagne's on me.
Let me give you a kiss.
It's nice to see you. Especially after what happened. How awful.
How are your children?
Raymond took them with him to France.
It simplifies things.
Yet when I think they're 10,000 kilometres away
I could cry for hours.
I'm sorry, but I have to go.
You won't stay for a drink?
And I was being sincere.
You shouldn't act so proud, with what's said about Camille.
And about you too, in Saigon!
Yes, my dear Yvette, "how awful"!
Today I staked out a parcel of land with Kim.
For ten minutes I thought only of my rubber trees.
And then while getting dressed
I fell sobbing to my knees.
Now I'm almost cheerful.
Sometimes the despair diminishes.
As if it's evaporated, gone.
Sometimes it's suffocating.
Promise you're not hiding anything?
It's the same everywhere.
The informers are going crazy.
We check each lead: nothing.
She's becoming a legend.
An Indo-Chinese Joan of Arc.
You think she's still alive? Tell me the truth!
Yes. I'll find her.
Go in the pagoda. Stay out of sight.
You can't remain here.
We have more important people to hide.
Come with us, Camille. The Party needs you.
I learned of Tanh's role and importance only later,
He'd become one of the secret heads of the communist party,
Xuy will try to get you to China.
That's all I can do for you.
He'd convinced them to protect Camille and Jean-Baptiste.
Do you have news
of my mother?
No, neither of your mother nor mine.
That's all in the past.
Stay inside the wagon.
Remember, you're a white deserter.
But this place is absolutely deserted!
There are eyes everywhere,
put that in your ignorant French officer's head.
You're threatening our safety!
The French have blocked the roads.
It's even dangerous to leave you here during the spectacle.
Jean-Baptiste.
Push... push harder.
You wanted to stay, I warned you.
This isn't for men!
You look like a devil, you'll scare the baby.
Yes, harder... Here he is!
It's a boy.
You have a son, that's good.
Better than a girl.
Death to the land robbers who've starved us!
Death to the mandarins and the notables who support the French!
You're all worthless!
Your pay, your allowances,
submissive congaies, you know all about that!
But when ideas are needed, no one!
It's because of sheep like you France will lose the empire.
I feel like I'm fighting Asia all by myself.
I'm tired!
Disturbances have occurred here, here and here.
What does this mean?
This means someone's going along this line starting fires.
Alright?
Who follows this itinerary
without attracting attention?
From village to village for centuries,
in such a way
that it seems as natural as the wind or rain?
So natural you don't even stop them?
Well? Who?
The theatre troupes!
Actors in our country are free and neutral people.
And have been for centuries.
It's impossible the communists corrupted them.
You have no right to suspect them.
Fine. In one week I want all the actors,
all the singers, the puppeteers
in the north of Tonkin arrested.
Code name: "Operation Molire".
In five hours we're in China, the Yunnan province.
You know what Yunnan means?
"The land south of the clouds".
Where are you going?
Not far. Don't worry.
Wilth the baby?
In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost,
I baptise you
Etienne, Marie, Loic.
My baby. My baby boy.
You're a murderer.
They'll kill you. And the child will die too.
Let them go.
We must flee.
You'll see them again.
For that you must live. Flee with us.
She never had time to become attached to you.
You had just been born.
I often wondered if you should know all this.
I thought of meeting Jean-Baptiste's family...
I didn't do it.
Nor did they.
Wait, lieutenant. Calm down!
He's hungry.
What can I do?
Find a woman.
Congaie, congaie...
Indo-Chinese women nourished at every stop.
That's how the legend began...
Wilth you.
Countless women said they'd nourished you.
Even elderly women,
even those who'd never seen you.
Camille and Jean-Baptiste became legends...
The legend spread everywhere,
from village to village,
from China all the way to Saigon.
Why did you bring me here?
No one move!
Follow them!
Hurry up!
Tell me! Why'd you bring me here?
Camille's in Poulo-Condore prison.
She's alive!
You'll get her out. I want to see her!
You can't see her.
It's impossible even for me.
Stop talking!
You're the boss, I want Camille!
In Indo-China right now
there are 100 troupes acting out Camille's story.
There's nothing I can do
Get her out of prison. Please!
Can't you understand?
Not only will she stay there,
she'll end up communist!
Poulo-Condore prison
is a communist breeding ground.
You go in a criminal, a prostitute, a nationalist,
you come out a Marxist!
And all I hope is that she becomes communist!
It's her only chance!
Everyone else dies!
Now I know who you are.
Nothing. You're nothing. Nothing but words.
You're worse than a coward.
You're always there.
You sniff around. And you talk.
You wonder that I never slept with you?
I didn't want you as a lover.
Women need more than words from their lovers.
Eliane!
Eliane!
This is Etienne.
Please sign here.
He ugly... he drop of mud.
You're right, Shen... very ugly...
Not handsome at all.
Not much big,
not pretty, dressed anywhen...
Not "anywhen" Shen, "any old way!"
The evil spirits are listening.
If we say he's handsome, they'll harm him.
Give me Le Guen.
No.
What will you do with him?
I await orders from Paris.
Give me 2 days. I need to question him.
What he knows about the their hideouts
is of major interest to us.
Three points, Mr. Asselin.
One: Le Guen won't talk.
Not a word since his arrest.
Not even to my chief of staff, his classmate.
Two: if I hand him over,
perhaps he'll talk.
I prefer not: I know your methods.
Three: Le Guen is a sailor.
He will be tried by sailors.
What is of interest will be communicated to you.
More proof of navy-police cooperation.
That's how empires are great!
You've decided to talk.
I'm listening.
I have one request,
one only.
Jean-Baptiste.
Hello.
Hello, Eliane.
They've given me 24 hours.
I gave my word.
I take the boat in the morning.
I'll be tried in Brest.
Here, the navy would've been soiled,
and France would've been on trial.
I have one day to pack up.
You're taking him to France?
No. I'm asking you to keep him.
For now, at least.
Do you accept?
I wouldn't have let you take him.
You haven't changed.
I've never had a little baby all my own.
Where will you sleep?
I don't know.
Take him to the house in Saigon.
He needs to spend a night with his father.
You want Shen to help you?
No, I'll manage.
I'll come tomorrow. To the boat too.
You have no news?
No, none.
You'll see her again.
She's become so strong.
Did they sleep well?
Me not know.
You didn't go up?
No. Baby cry last night, then sleep.
Etienne,
my darling,
we're going home,
back to our house.
Madame... Madame Devries!
Swear it wasn't you!
Swear it!
That I didn't do what?
Jean-Baptiste is dead...
and you killed him.
He's in Emile's house.
The gun's in his hand.
He didn't do it! Not with a baby in his arms!
Calm down, Eliane!
Calm down!
His day of freedom! You were all in on it!
He was free,
free to die,
free to get shot!
But I'll find proof against you,
the navy, the government!
Stop it! Stop!
It's the communists!
The communists!
He'd infiltrated them, he'd betrayed them,
he betrayed everyone,
so he got what he deserved!
It's hopeless, by noon
all Saigon will be convinced it was suicide.
Put locks on Mr. Devries' house,
inform the chief of cabinet, and admiral Josselin. I'm on my way.
As expected, they concluded suicide.
To fight for Jean-Baptiste's memory
was like fighting France itself.
So I wrote to Saigon's leading paper.
A very simple letter.
It said your father loved life
much too much to die that way.
I went with him to the boat. I'd promised him.
Wilthout you, I'd have followed him.
You turned five.
I had no news of your mother,
other than that she was alive.
To obtain her pardon I wrote to the President,
to the minister of Justice,
to the governor general.
There was no answer.
I didn't do anything,
I tell you, I didn't,
it's my parents, not me.
They say you're...
That I'm?
A red! A dirty communist!
Tell them it's true.
You'd become the little king of my beloved domain.
Every day bankers came.
They wanted my lands.
I wanted to save everything for my daughter and for you.
When Camille would be free again
life would go on as before.
Then, one night Guy called.
He was the same as ever,
as if 3 years hadn't gone by.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Bow deeply, the woman I love.
Pig!
I forgive you.
Not me.
It doesn't matter, I'm leaving.
Come on, don't hold back!
Make my last day unforgettable!
Wilthout my Chinese I'd have left long ago.
Why are you leaving?
Dismissed... Fired... Discarded... Willl you have me?
No.
Like the Popular Front,
the Forces, everyone...
No one likes Guy Asselin.
Where are you going?
To some fragment of the Empire.
The innocent are kicked out,
the guilty will be freed.
Drink up, my friends!
Help me forget my misfortune
and if you like secrets, share them, you know everything.
I was just the mailbox, the Post Office.
Forget your oaths of silence.
Tonight, we reveal everything!
Come on!
You think I have a destiny?
Hurry back to Guy.
Men like him can't be left alone.
His kind is always getting hurt.
My turn!
My turn!
Here! Here!
My turn!
See, it's easy.
Guy had known before everyone,
Several days later it was official,
The Popular Front opened the prisons and amnestied the prisoners,
Stay back!
The amnestied prisoners will be transported to Saigon by truck,
they will be freed at police headquarters.
Stay back.
Back! Let them through!
Oh! My baby,
my darling.
You've become so thin.
The red Princess! There she is!
I'll carry your bag.
No, I'm fine.
I tried everything to get you out.
I prayed, I'd have given my life.
I was so afraid you'd die.
I've kept everything.
The domain, the land. It's yours.
I'm not coming home.
I have to go.
What are you saying?
I beg you... Think...
I've been thinking 5 years.
It's too late, mama.
I can't go back.
I have no past. I forgot everything.
Otherwise I'd have died of sorrow.
What's his name?
Etienne... he's a wonderful boy.
Listen,
try,
I'll help you,
my darling.
I don't want him to know what I lived through, how I suffered.
I want him to be happy.
Honey...
Go to France.
Take him. Your Indo-China's dead.
It no longer exists.
You sold it?
Yes.
Many piastres?
Many.
You buy another plantation?
No Shen, of course not.
Satait, and Kim and me, go where?
You stay.
It's decided with Madame Minh Tam.
Mister Emile stays too.
And you, go where?
I left for France,
to start a new life,
taking only you with me.
Tomorrow, France loses Indo-China for good.
A big delegation of Vietnamese is here.
Camille, your mother, is in that hotel.
Room 212...
You want to see her?
And you?
No.
Did you see her?
The lobby was full of people.
Police, security, barriers.
I realized how ridiculous the situation was.
I pictured myself jumping on an Indo-Chinese woman, yelling:
"Mama"!
So I thought a miracle had to happen.
I hoped one of the women would shout:"Etienne, my son!"
I waited.
A long time.
Nothing happened.
So I left.
You're always joking.
No. You're my mother.
What is it?
I broke my heel.
The next day, July 21, 1954,
the Geneva conference was over,
ending 15 years of turmoil,
and inaugurating the division into two separate nations
of what would henceforth be called Vietnam.
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