The Sea Wall

The Sea Wall stars Isabelle Huppert as a French widow who, accompanied by her two children Joseph (Gaspard Ulliel) and Suzanne (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), leaves France in 1931 for a new life cultivating rice in Cambodia. Their life-savings are lost when floods saturate their fields only to reveal that the Imperial authorities have knowingly sold them unviable, reclaimable land. Facing ruin, she and the supremely arrogant Joseph encourage her beautiful teenage daughter to sexually entice the rich infatuated Vietnamese businessman Monsieur Jo (Randal Douc) in the hope of securing financial aid. Sympathy for their predicament is perhaps deliberately held at bay, with the detestable selfishness of the main characters successfully reflecting Colonialism at its worst. However any dramatic value is lost as the narrative branches thinly from a strong central storyline, subsequently taking any initial investment with it. With strong realistic performances, The Sea Wall is Out Of Africa without the sentimentality, but essentially also without the emotive charm.