MovieChat Forums > L'amant (1992) Discussion > 'I have a destroyed face.'

'I have a destroyed face.'

posted 13 years ago by ashisthegal
11 replies | jump to latest

the opening dialogue, where the old woman talks about how it was too late for her at age 18, and about how she aged young while watching her face change and age with fascination, really stuck with me. it pulled me immediately into the story, and now after having seen the film whole, i can't help but wonder if the opening lines about how she aged young is somehow a foreshadow on how reckless a life the young girl lived and the consequences that came of it. i know it is left up to the viewer's imagination to decide what exactly happened to the young french girl (we do know she goes on to be a writer, but not much else). do you suppose we are to believe that her relationship with the Chinaman was just the beginning? perhaps it started with him, but she began to use her young, attractive body to lure in other men in order to support her family.

i was just wondering if anyone else has speculated about this the way i have. i haven't read the book (i tried to find it on the Kindle, but it's not available yet), so i'm wondering if this is better explained in the story. or perhaps in the sequel book that was made or somewhere else.

[–] paleolith 13 years ago

I was just wondering. But watching the movie, I could not tell how long a time span it covered. Was it perhaps 2-1/2 years? If the affair ended when she was 18, then the opening comment makes more sense.

Edward

[–] skay_baltimore 12 years ago

I was just wondering. But watching the movie, I could not tell how long a time span it covered. Was it perhaps 2-1/2 years? If the affair ended when she was 18, then the opening comment makes more sense.

I was confused about her age as well. There seem to be two takes: one that says 15 (the book?), and one that says 17/18 (the movie?). As far as how long the affair lasted, I was under the impression it only lasted over the summer, and that she and her mother and younger brother returned to France at the end of the summer.

"Love isn't what you say or how you feel, it's what you DO". (The Last Kiss)

[–] agera 13 years ago

The book doesn't explain too much more than the movie. But the wonderful thing about the novel is that it's full of passages like the opening one, words that stay with you long after you finished reading it.

I've only read it in English but even in translation, it's simply one of the best and most haunting things I've ever read. I cannot recommend it too highly.

I would probably really have liked the movie if I hadn't read the novel first. If only the whole movie were as good as Jeanne Moreau's narration, it would have caught the feel of the novel perfectly. But it wasn't and it didn't.

"The night was sultry."

[–] Madonna-whore 13 years ago

Who is Jeanne Moreau? I know the book was written by Marguerite Duras, but is Jeanne Moreau the translator or something?

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WHAT'S A BIEBER????

[–] agera 13 years ago

Jeanne Moreau does the voiceover narration. She's a French actress now in her 80's who was very famous back in the 60's.

I just googled her name and got 1,400,000 hits.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1041&bih= 412&q=%22Jeanne+Moreau%22&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

"The night was sultry."

[–] Madonna-whore 13 years ago

oh ok thanks, I had no idea! I loved her voice too! I knew that name sounded familiar.

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WHAT'S A BIEBER????

[–] agera 13 years ago

Here's a YouTube clip from probably her most famous film, Jules et Jim in which she sings a song. It gives some idea of her very special charm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqwLx0DG7qQ&feature=related

"The night was sultry."

[–] valfanclub 11 years ago

Actually, this was claimed to be an autobiographical story, and the book also seems to validate that. I read it and the movie is faithful to it IMO. The writer, Marguerite Duras is/was a strange woman with an even stranger past which we glimpse at in the movie.

Sadly in her biography, it is said that there was not such wonderful relationship with one special Chinese man, but instead a few of them, forced affairs brought on by financial needs and encouraged by her mum.

One of the regulars did not look like Tony Leung either, and was more like an Asian version of Quasimodo (or so my mum told me when she was reading the biography).

What I wondered was whether Duras used that book to transcend her own difficult memories or did she indeed felt "something" for one of her lovers/clients?
Certainly the "destroyed face" mentioned would make sense under the circumstances.

The fact that she wrote such an amazing book out of her experiences is even more impressive and it's probably what people call talent.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

Sadly in her biography, it is said that there was not such wonderful relationship with one special Chinese man, but instead a few of them, forced affairs brought on by financial needs and encouraged by her mum.

I find this really, really sad and it gives me another perspective on the relationship, although as portrayed in the film it differs from the actuality on which it was based.

The distance is nothing. The first step is the hardest.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] clemato 10 years ago

It takes place over a matter of months. The Girl says so just when taking to her Mother at the end of the Film.