Indochine

In 1930, Éliane Devries runs her rubber plantation in colonial Indochina and becomes the adoptive mother of Camille, the daughter of her late friends from the Nguyễn dynasty. The plantation relies on indentured labor, shaping the world Camille grows up in. This setup establishes the power dynamics that drive later conflicts.

Éliane and Jean-Baptiste Le Guen bid on the same painting at an auction, and he publicly challenges her, testing her resolve and freedom. The moment foreshadows the confrontational tension that will define their relationship. The auction scene cements the initial clash between a plantation matriarch and a daring naval officer.

Days after the auction, Jean-Baptiste visits Éliane's plantation and they begin an affair, despite their social differences. His interest in a boy linked to his opium-arson case becomes a pretext for closer ties. The affair deepens secrets that will destabilize both their lives.

Éliane leverages her Navy connections to transfer Jean-Baptiste to Haiphong, moving him away from her and Camille. The shift marks a turning point in their relationship as distance complicates their bond. The colonial power structure adds a layer of inevitability to their separation.

At a Christmas party, Jean-Baptiste publicly slaps Éliane, revealing the volatile mix of desire and power between them. For this act, he is punished and sent to Dragon Islet, a remote French military base. The punishment isolates him from Éliane and Camille.

Éliane arranges for Camille to become engaged to Thanh, a pro-Communist Vietnamese youth expelled from France for his support of reform. The engagement ties Camille to dangerous political currents. The arrangement foreshadows the journeys Camille will take with Jean-Baptiste.

Camille, seeking Jean-Baptiste, travels north and is imprisoned with a Vietnamese family on Dragon Islet. The captors subject the travelers to torture and murder, revealing the brutal realities of colonial border policing. The incident sets the stage for a daring escape.

In the ensuing firefight, Camille shoots an officer and Jean-Baptiste defies his superiors to protect her, allowing them to flee together. The pair begin a perilous journey away from Dragon Islet. Their bond deepens under life-threatening strain.

After days adrift in the Gulf of Tonkin, Camille and Jean-Baptiste are taken in by a Communist theater troupe and find shelter in a secluded valley. They live among performers who offer them safety and anonymity. The valley becomes a temporary sanctuary for their growing family.

Months after finding refuge, Camille is pregnant with Jean-Baptiste's child, cementing the stakes of their exile and increasing the urgency to leave for safety. The pair prepare for a future that is increasingly uncertain. Thanh's political role continues to loom over their fate.

Thanh, now a high-ranking Communist operative, arranges for the theater troupe to smuggle Camille and Jean-Baptiste into China. The escape succeeds, plunging them into a broader revolutionary movement. Their identities as lovers and fugitives become entwined with the region's political upheaval.

Near the Chinese border, Jean-Baptiste baptizes their newborn son Étienne in a river before French soldiers ambush him. Camille evades capture and the troupe escapes; Jean-Baptiste is jailed in Saigon and Étienne is handed over to Éliane. The line between family and politics blurs as loyalties fracture.

The Navy plans a court-martial to avoid a public Indochina trial, granting Jean-Baptiste a final 24-hour visit with Étienne. He is found dead in his bed with a gun in hand, and the official ruling is suicide; Camille is captured and sent to Poulo-Condor prison. The tragedy cements decades of sacrifice and separation.

Five years after Camille's imprisonment, the Popular Front comes to power and liberates political prisoners, including Camille. Éliane and Camille reunite, but Camille declines to return to her mother and son, choosing to continue Vietnam's independence with the Communists. Éliane sells the plantation and leads Étienne away from Indochina.

In 1954, Éliane and a grown Étienne visit Switzerland where Camille serves as a Vietnamese Communist Party delegate at the Geneva Conference. The crowded negotiators' hotel makes it difficult to spot him, but he tells her he sees her as his mother. France's Indochina becomes independent and Vietnam is partitioned.