The 'love' between Chinaman and the girl. QUESTIONS!

Hi there

I think it had to do with lust initially which turned to love - a love which he held dear for the rest of his days.

I would agree that she was very precocious - she recognised beauty in her blonde friend and even said that "those men would be lucky" to sleep with her if she was a prostitute. I think she was sexually very curious and didn't shy away when the Chinaman clasped her hand in the car. She also instigated sex in the bachelor room after he became hesitant, thinking she was too young. This is a tactic often deployed in films of this delicate nature to almost excuse the older male lead and make him appear less predatory and the audience less repulsed (same thing happened in Lyne's version of Lolita between the characters of Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain in that her character was eventually the one who instigated their first sexual encounter).

I question whether she actually loved him too because she didn't appear to like Chinese men (she said as much early on). But then she seemed to suffer a loss when finally she departed on the ship. Maybe it took that separation for her to realise she did in fact have feelings for him? But I think she was always aware that there could be no future in their relationship. The Chinaman's father did not approve and they would never have been accepted and he may have been disinherited.

Not too sure about your other points as I have only myself viewed it twice, years apart. Hope my views make sense to you though but that's just my personal take. Others may be able to provide a more satisfactory answer

And that, my friends, is all I have to say about that!

>How did the Chinaman fall in love with the girl so fast?

It was just physical in the beginning (Isn't that how alot of relationships start?) Later, however, it turned more into a loving/sharing relationship, though I don't think the girl wanted to admit it, even to herself.

>As for the girl, what led her to go to the Chinaman and basically tell him to just sleep with her no strings attached?

I think she was curious and she knew that he had money to spend on her. I think the fact that she didn't grow up with a Dad might have also given her a desire to seek out an older man (though he wasn't nearly as old as her Dad would have been).

>He was clearly in love with her (right?), but she kept saying that she was in it for the money. IF that is indeed the case, I wonder why the Chinaman would put up with that kind of humiliation???

Believe me there are pleny of guys with mistresses who are just there for the money. The guys know it, though they don't want to admit it to themselves. In some cases they might even hope that after at time the girl might really fall in love with them (I think this might be the situation for the Chinaman). Men are good at fooling themselves this way I think.

> If she did love him (which I think she did) then did she not tell him that because:

I think that she did love him, but did not want to admit it because she knew it wouldn't work. Because of ethic concerns neither family would accept the other. His family would want him married to a Chinese girl whose family had the right connections, not some poor French girl without two dimes to rub together.

In the western world we have forgotten how powerful these family influences can be. In the U.S. you can pretty much marry anybody these days, but not in the rest of the world and not back then.

The best the Chinaman could have offered her was a longterm mistress relationship, something I don't think she would have been satisfied with.

>Her mother must have known even before she discovered the ring that her daughter was sleeping with Chinaman, or did she really not know?

I think at some point her mom realized what was going on and accepted it because it was finacially helpful and she realized it would never lead to marriage. She didn't want a Chinaman for a son-in-law.


I have to say I really love this movie. It reminds me of an episode in my own life and makes me wonder what would have happened if things had gone diffrently (Strangely enough the girl involved also resembled Jane March!).

That's why this movie is so good. First, it's a true story basically so even more fascinating. She doesn't think she loves because she's young and hard as a result of her upbringing. That dysfunctional home produced her hard exterior. She takes up with him for $ & to be rebellious. And I think they both had chemistry that turned to love. She doesn't realize it until she's on the ship and cries for what she lost. But their ethnicities make it impossible.