Against the backdrop of Vietnam's struggle to win independence from the French, Regis Wargnier's 1993 film Indochine presents a personal drama wrought with all the elements of a true epic: a mother's love, a daughter's betrayal, and the war that tears them apart. The symbolism in Wargnier's film is almost too obvious. Isabelle, a French plantation owner played by Catherine Deneuve is thwarted by her adopted Vietnamese daughter, who leaves her to find true love (incidentally, Isabelle's former lover) and join the Communist resistance movement.

Characters in Wargnier's films are subservient to the plot. Like pictures in a textbook, they become concrete incarnations of the political and historical contexts where Wargnier puts them. In his latest film, East-West, Wargnier has chosen post-World War II Russia as the setting of another ambitious story of epic proportions. Events are presented in a more focused and coherent fashion than in Indochine, characters have more depth and credibility, but the film does not escape Wargnier's predilection for clichs and characters whose personal attributes are secondary to their role as symbols of his political and moral views.

It is 1946. Alexei, played by Oleg Menshikov (Prisoner of the Mountains, Burnt by the Sun) leaves France to start a new life in Russia, the country where he was born, with his wife Marie and son Serioja. It doesn't take long for Alexei and Marie to realize they have made a huge mistake. Upon arriving in Russia, in a scene reminiscent of Hitler's concentration camps, Alexei and Marie watch as soldiers separate family members and then shoot a boy that attempts to rejoin his father. Events take a turn for the worse when a KGB officer accuses Marie of being a spy, destroys her passport, and sends her, Alexei, and their son to live in a communal apartment in Kiev.

The ensuing plot tracks the descent into an inescapable nightmare. Marie is driven by an overwhelming desire to escape the poverty and tyranny of Stalin's Russia and return to France. When a French acting troupe comes to Kiev, Marie seizes an opportunity of escape by giving a letter to the lead actress played by Catherine Deneuve. Marie hopes the French government will recognize her plight and help her return to France.

Alexei, in the meantime, adapts to the regime by joining the Communist Party and becomes romantically involved with a woman that shares their apartment. Marie eventually finds an ally in Sacha, a young man whose grandmother was arrested and killed after a neighbor overheard her speaking French with Marie and subsequently denounced her to the secret police.

Sacha, too, wants to leave Russia. Marie helps him rejoin the local swim team by going with him every day to a river where he rebuilds his strength by swimming against the current. She hopes he will win a national race and be selected to go to Vienna for the European championships. Once out of the Soviet Union, Sacha will be able to help Marie.

Sandrine Bonnaire successfully portrays the anguish of a woman trapped in a world she cannot accept. We sympathize, but can't help feeling she is responsible for her misfortunes. Marie stubbornly refuses to understand there is no easy solution to her predicament; the Soviet authorities will not permit her to return to France. Ultimately, the fault lies with Wargnier. He has created a character of heroic proportions, a woman who endures unimaginable hardships, years of exile in a forced labor camp, to escape Soviet Russia. In the process, he has deprived his protagonist of a more human face.

With little in the way of character development, East-West ultimately relies on plot to sustain the viewer's interest. Rather than engaging us, East-West compels us to ask: Will Sasha make the team? Will Marie escape? There is little ambiguity and no humor to overcome the predictable and increasingly tiresome turns of plot.

Wargnier's film is unrelentingly grim and one-dimensional. Millions of Russians managed to lead interesting and productive lives and even find happiness under Stalin's regime. By portraying Alexei's submission to the Party as a sacrifice he secretly undergoes to help Marie escape, Wargnier offers little more than a commentary on the brutality and rigidity of the Soviet Union. But we can't help wondering about brighter moments in the lives of Wargnier's protagonists.

EAST-WEST

directed by

Regis Wargnier

starring

Sandrine Bonnaire