Understanding, The Lover

An observation of an interesting story between a young French fille who seems to have a prejudice against Chinese people develops an interesting “romance” with a Chinese man.

The Lover is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by French author Marguerite Duras. Duras’ own romance with a Chinese man in colonial Vietnam caused a scandal. In the novel, the lover is Annamese, who is socially lower than the Chinese. Keep This In Mind.

Once he says where he lives, she understands he is from a Chinese part of town, she laughs at the idea”. Though SHE and HER family are considered LOWER than the Chinese men, She looks down on HIM, while she eats food he paid for, makes love on his bed, and asks him for 500 pesos.

We later learn where her prejudice comes from, she tells the story of how her mother worked hard and used to own land on this beach, something about how the locals lied. the government stole their land and eventually killed her mother. they used to be as good as any other French people, but after they were accused of stealing, all the other French people did not want to associate with them. now they were the poorest white people around.

What did HE represent to her

Although she makes it clear her feelings about Chinese people, the only time she EVER takes off her fedora is with him. same with her pigtails, ribbon, and rosy lipstick. She is only ever naked with him. when they are having dinner she asks about virginity in his culture. He says once a girl is no longer a virgin, no one will want her, no one will marry her. He hurts her feelings, but she laughs it off and says she wouldn’t want to be with Chinese men anyway ( she just inserted him). when she gets back to the boarding house she cries.

This could either mean two things,

-She asked him this because she developed feelings for him because she inserted Him into the equation

-or she is a virgin and wants to know how the world will view her now. Why was she so impacted by what he said? She later took her fedora off to cry.

What does her fedora mean?

She mentions how her father passed, and women in that time in Asia did not wear fedoras, it was reserved for men. The fact that she wears one means she is also exhuming a masculine role, in boarding school on her own at 15 and her family being the poorest French people. She has been forced to be strong by the world. The Chinese people are what caused her poverty, she wears her fedora because of them but she also only takes it off for a Chinese man.

She takes her fedora off to make love with Mr., at the beach with Mr, and the 2 times that she cries. The first time she cries is when he tells her they can't be together because she is not a virgin, and the second is when she leaves Mr. She never cries outside of that. and never in front of people. When she is with Mr., she feels comforted and submits by taking off her masculine fedora.

What do the dress colors represent?

When she first meets Mr. she is wearing dirty white representing her poverty.

when she goes to meet Mr. the third time, she wears pure white representing her purity

when she is called a prostitute and isolated, she wears brown as if she felt tainted

when Mr. gets married, she wears black as if he were going to a funeral

When she finally leaves for France she is wearing her dirty white dress, like when she first met Mr.

What does SHE represent to him?

He mentions how hard it is to get a French woman, why her out of all the girls he could find? he is wealthy after all. He mentioned how hard it was to get a French woman, and how hard it was to find French people in their part of Vietnam.

She represents freedom for him, freedom from culture and societal expectations.

He says before her he knew no pain, he had never had to work for anything before and it is constantly mentioned how lazy he is.

Mr. Suits

He only wears 2 suits in this movie, When he first meets Jane, he is wearing a white suit, and when he forces himself on her, he is wearing black, when he professes his love for her, he is wearing white again.

Why couldn't they be together?

Mr was too lazy to fight against his family, even though she would always deny her love for him, deep down he knew she loved him but she didn't know how to express it. otherwise, he would not have told his family about her. He could see right through her. Lovers understand each other without words

She was too ashamed of her and her family status, and Mr’s family was so prominent that people would become too curious of her background, she also held prejudice. She acted like she was ashamed of him, but deep down she was ashamed of herself.