Vietnam - A Bit of French Indochinese History
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
Our next stop cruising down the Mekong was Sa Dec. This is the town where the very young Marguerite Duras, who would go on to become a famous French novelist, had an erotic liaison with a wealthy and refined Chinese man. The liaison was described in Duras's novel "The Lover", which was adapted in a movie of the same name. We watched the movie one evening on board our boat. It's probably the most sensuous movie I've ever seen. There's a long review of the movie at
http://blogcritics.org/video/article/the-lover-duras-politics-and-lust/
that ably captures the many complexities of the film.
These two photos are from the house of the Chinese man's parents in Sa Dec. They give some idea of wealth and refinement of the upper class in French Indochina (not all of whom were French), but little idea of the emotional complexities behind the decor.