Welcome back to Movies Hunter.
Today, I am going to explain a drama romance film released in 1992 called “The Lover”.
A ferry filled with locals is preparing to leave for Saigon, Vietnam.
There, we see a 15-year-old girl named Jane, who belongs to a poverty-stricken French family.
Jane lives with her family in a remote village in Vietnam.
She has two brothers, Pierre and Paul.
Pierre is the elder brother, and Paul is the younger brother.
Despite being the elder sibling, Pierre bullies his younger siblings and acts as the head
of the house.
Jane’s mother is a school teacher, who teaches the locals.
Jane believes that her mother only loves Pierre, and doesn’t care about her and Paul.
Her mother says she loves all of them equally, but Jane knows she is lying.
So Jane’s mother reveals that she is sending Pierre back to France, as he stole money from
her to smoke opium.
Despite being the eldest son of the family, Pierre doesn’t do any job to support the
family and steals money from his mother to buy opium.
Jane’s family are financially struggling, and are barely able to survive.
Jane studies in a school and visits her family during vacation.
As it is the last day of her vacation, she is returning to Saigon.
She gets on the ferry and is waiting for it to leave.
After a wealthy man’s car boards the ferry, the ferry leaves.
Jane catches the attention of the man, who steps out of his car to talk to her.
He approaches her and offers her a cigarette.
Jane politely declines and doesn't seem interested.
The man is the son of a wealthy Chinese businessman, and his name is Tony.
To get Jane’s attention, he compliments Jane on her beauty.
This time Jane replies and they begin conversing.
Tony has just returned from Paris after completing his business studies.
He offers to take Jane to Saigon in his car.
Jane accepts his offer and they leave the ferry in his car.
Jane notices Tony's ring and is intrigued by his wealth.
Tony asks Jane if she is a student, to which Jane says that she studies in a high school
in Saigon, and lives in a boarding school.
Tony then asks Jane about her age.
She lies to him and tells Tony that she is 17, despite her being 15 years old.
Tony tells Jane that he is 32 years old.
He says that after the death of his mother, his father never left the house, and takes
care of the business from home.
Tony then slowly caresses Jane's finger with his, and Jane doesn't seem bothered by it.
By the time they reach Saigon, Tony’s hand is on Jane’s thighs.
Jane bids goodbye to Tony and leaves.
The next day, as Jane comes out of her school, she sees Tony's car standing outside.
She realises that he is there to see her and goes to him.
Jane kisses Tony through the window and leaves.
One day, Tony goes to meet Jane at her boarding school.
So Jane leaves with him in his car.
Tony takes Jane through the market into a house.
He tells Jane that the house is known as the bachelor’s house, where many Chinese men
used to bring their mistresses.
Jane doesn’t seem bothered by it, as she knows why Tony has brought her there.
Tony wants to make love to Jane, but he fears that he may fall in love with her.
So he suggests they should leave and come again later.
But Jane tells him that she doesn't mind being his mistress.
Jane doesn't know if she will fall in love with him or not, but she too wants to make
love to him.
Tony removes her dress and takes her to bed.
But Tony hesitates as he knows Jane is much younger than him and feels ashamed.
But Jane doesn’t want to stop and the two end up making love.
At night, Jane tells Tony about her wish to become a writer.
She wants to write about her family, about how life might have turned out had her life
been different.
Tony says he knows about her family and her elder brother’s smoking habits.
Sometime later, Tony takes Jane to an expensive Chinese restaurant for dinner.
Jane’s mother once told Jane that if a woman loses her innocence before marriage, it is
impossible for her to find a husband.
Jane asks Tony if the Chinese men marry women who lost their innocence or not.
Tony replies that it is forbidden in their culture as well, and now that he has done
it with Jane, they can't get married now.
Jane laughs it off, saying that she doesn’t like Chinese men anyways.
As days pass by, Tony and Jane begin meeting frequently during her holidays.
Tony would send his driver to pick her up from her school.
Their thirst for each other was growing stronger with every visit.
One night while having dinner, Tony tells Jane that his marriage has been arranged with
the daughter of a wealthy Chinese businessman.
Jane asks him if he loves her, to which Tony replies that he doesn’t even know her, let
alone love her.
They both know that their future together is unthinkable.
So they try to keep things casual between them.
One day, Jane returns home in Tony’s car.
Her mother is surprised and later interrogates her about who dropped her home.
Jane tells her that it was a rich friend of hers, who has just returned from Paris.
Jane's mother then shows her the letter from the boarding school, who informed her that
Jane often used to spend her nights outside the boarding school.
Jane tries to come up with an excuse, but Pierre encourages their mother to hit her.
Jane’s mother is confused about the situation and doesn’t say anything to her.
One day, Jane takes her family to meet Tony at an expensive restaurant.
Tony tries talking to Jane's family, but they all are focused on eating and don’t pay
any attention to Tony.
Even Jane ignores him, as she doesn't want her family to think that she is in love with
Tony.
Afterwards, Pierre wants to go to La Cascade, where he wants to drink and dance.
Despite being so generous, Jane’s family behaves rudely toward Tony.
Jane doesn't even bother to talk to Tony and starts dancing with Paul.
Tony feels ignored by Jane, and his eyes get teary as he watches Jane and Paul dancing
together.
He realizes that Jane’s family came to meet him only because of his money.
After paying for everything, Tony brings Jane back to the bachelor’s house.
Jane doesn't say a word as she knows how badly her family treated Tony.
Tony slaps Jane and then makes love to her, who lies on the bed without any emotion.
After Tony is done, Jane asks him to pay her money and pretends as if she is interested
only in his money.
So Tony takes the money out of his wallet and throws it on the table.
Jane gives the money to her mother, who then talks to the headmistress of the boarding
school and tells her to let Jane leave whenever she wants.
Jane continues meeting with Tony and tells him that everyone at the boarding school knows
about their relationship.
Because of this, she has become an outcast as no one talks to her anymore.
One night, Tony asks Jane when she is leaving for France.
Jane replies that she will return to France at the end of the school year, but she may
not be able to return because of her financial condition.
Tony then gives her a ring that belonged to his mother, as he still loves Jane very much.
The next day, Tony goes to visit his father.
He tells his father that he is in love with a white girl and wants to marry her.
But his father doesn’t care and tells him to marry the girl he has arranged, or else
Tony will be kicked out of his father’s business.
Later, Tony goes to meet Jane and tells her everything.
He tells her that without his father, he is nothing.
So despite his feelings for Jane, he cannot be with her forever.
Jane tells him that she doesn’t love him anyway, and he should marry the girl arranged
by his father.
Jane tells Tony that after the death of her father, her mother bought a piece of land
in hopes of getting rich.
But her mother was lied to by the land registrar agents and was sold flood lands, which are
of no use.
Because of the debts, her mother had to sell everything, including their bungalow, lands,
and everything.
This is how her family became poor.
Jane sits down near the shore, thinking about the pain and suffering her mother had to face
alone.
Tony and Jane spend one last night together before separating for good.
To make their separation less painful, Tony asks Jane to tell them that she slept with
him only because of his money.
Jane repeats his words and says that she never loved him.
But deep down, Tony is heartbroken to be separated from Jane.
The next day, Jane returns home in Tony's car.
Pierre and their mother see the ring given by Tony.
They cannot understand why he would give Jane such an expensive ring.
To avert their suspicion, Jane throws away the ring and says that she doesn’t care
about it.
But Pierre doesn’t believe her and starts beating her.
Paul is listening to everything but doesn’t do anything as he fears his elder brother.
After this, Jane’s mother decides to send Pierre back to France, as she doesn’t want
her children to fight each other.
Jane's mother loved Pierre the most and is sad to see him go away.
A couple of months later, Jane goes to see Tony at his bachelor’s house.
Despite trying so hard to forget Jane, he just can't forget her.
Jane is the only woman he truly loves and will never be able to love anyone else.
He spends his day smoking and drinking, as it helps him forget about Jane.
Tony reveals that he is going to get married in a couple of days, after which he will leave.
On the day of Tony’s marriage, Jane goes to see him one last time.
Jane sees Tony and his wife together and gets emotional.
Jane returns home and sees her mother preparing to leave for France.
Her mother reveals that Tony paid all their debts, and also paid for their trip back to
France.
Jane returns to the bachelor’s house one last time to meet Tony and thank him for everything.
She waits for him all day, but Tony doesn't show up.
So she leaves and returns home.
Later, Jane and her family board the ship and are finally returning home.
As the ship starts sailing, Jane sees Tony’s car parked far away.
Although Tony isn't visible, Jane knows that Tony is sitting in the car, watching the love
of his life sailing away.
Later that night, when Jane is all alone, she cries her heart out, as she will never
be able to see Tony again.
Even though she loved Tony since the day they met, she never revealed her emotions to him.
Years pass by, and Jane eventually became a writer, just as she dreamt of.
One day, she gets a call from Tony, who tells her that he still loves her, and will always
love her till death.
Despite being separated for years, they couldn't forget each other, as they loved each other
from the bottom of their heart.
So this was the story of “The Lover.”
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