And I didn’t know… I hadn’t wanted to see, that she was in love, the way one loves the first time. Nothing would stop her.

This French film starring the great Catherine Deneuve was a quite the love story epic. Set during the Vietnam uprising against the French colonial powers in the 1930’s and ’40s, it follows the love triangle between wealthy heiress “Eliane” (Deneuve), French naval officer “Jean-Baptiste” (Vincent Perez) and Elaine’s god daughter “Camille” (Linh Dan Pham). An epic love story set againgst the back drop of war gets me almost everytime…and this one was really good! Definitely #allthefeels!!! Set against the beautiful backdrop of Vietnam, this one kinda gave me “Gone With the Wind” vibes in terms of the “epic-ness” and grand scale of this film.

It was very well-acted and maybe it was just the French language that made the tragic love story pop…I was familiar with Deneuve but I had never seen any of her work (I don’t think…as a “film buff” I know I need to do better) so this was my introduction and I think she gave a strong performance. Swiss actor Perez gave a very compelling performance (giving real Rudolph Valentino vibes) you could really feel the passion in his performance (or maybe that just me projecting the French lover stereotype on him LOL…either way it works). Pham gave a really great performance as well.

But overall, I think the thing that really stood out and made this film so great was the epic-ness/saga-esque feel to this…everything from the scope and scale to the locales and set design to the war-torn love story. It was beautiful to watch…the cinematography was a masterclass. And to top it off, this film will definitely get you emotional…joy, despair, love, hope, desolation, desire, longing, etc. These’s just enough character development and conflict to keep the viewer engaged. This film is subtitled but I definitely recommend this one…especially if you’re a hopeless romantic (like me)…or just like good filmmaking LOL. Currently streaming on IMDB TV.