Poussière d'empire

In Vietnam in the 50s, before Dien Bien Phu, a sergeant and a sister show religious films to the peasantry but are surrounded by Viet Minh in a rainstorm and later shot. Meanwhile a North Vietnamese soldier tries to get a message through to his wife in Saigon.

Curious amalgam of stories which completely changes direction halfway through. By looking at the Vietnamese suffering in microcosm it achieves a certain vividness and a touch of mysticism.

It's almost impossible to see "poussière d'empire" in France nowadays.It was broadcast on FR3 (the third channel)about two years after its release and since it vanished into thin air.Like this dust of the title.

The two French stars (Dominique Sanda,De Niro's co-star in "1900" ,and Jean -François Stevenin ,one of Truffaut's favorite actors,notably in "l'argent de poche") disappear in the first third of the movie ,à la Janet Leigh in "psycho".But here we do not deal with a thriller.And although Sanda and Stevenin play a nun and a sergeant coming to Indochine villages to catechize the "natives" ,it is not a war movie.It is not an adventures movie either.It's really difficult to pinpoint where the film belongs.Hence its intriguing charm.

The main theme is a message from a maquis to his wife.Unbeknownst to them ,the two French people carried this message.Then it becomes the star of the movie,becoming a fan ,then a wedge for an old radio.

Lam Lêh wanted to link his culture with the French one and he pulled it off masterfully.

If the French cinema forgets its most innovative works,it's the thin end of the wedge."Poussière d'empire" deserves a DVD release.