The Sea Wall (2008)

  • NR
  • 09/09/2008 (CA)
  • Drama
  • 1h 55m

Overview

The film centers on a young French widow and her two adolescent children as they attempt to carve out a meager life for themselves by farming rice fields alongside the ocean in French Indo-China in the 1930s. Their efforts are hampered each year by the presence of the sea, which invariably floods the fields with saltwater and wipes out the crops. In desperation, the mother realizes that their only hope lies in the construction of a sea wall to prevent continued flooding, but the mother must cut a swath through the local bureaucracy in an almost Sisyphean attempt to make this happen. Meanwhile, her obstinate daughter, Suzanne, draws the romantic obsessions of a well-to-do Chinese gentleman, Monsieur Jo. Though he could easily provide a way out, the possibility of a romantic relationship between Jo and Suzanne could just as easily fall prey to local racial prejudices that would damage or ruin the lives of both.

Rithy Panh

Director, Writer

Michel Fessler

Writer

Marguerite Duras

Novel

Cast

Gaspard Ulliel's headshot

Gaspard Ulliel

Joseph
Isabelle Huppert's headshot

Isabelle Huppert

Madame Dufresne, la mère
Stéphane Rideau's headshot

Stéphane Rideau

Agosti
Astrid Bergès-Frisbey's headshot

Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

Suzanne
Vincent Grass's headshot

Vincent Grass

Bart
Randal Douc's headshot

Randal Douc

Monsieur Jo
Lucy Harrison's headshot

Lucy Harrison

Carmen
Ingrid Mareski's headshot

Ingrid Mareski

une cliente occidentale du restaurant « Chez Bart »

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