THE GATE / Le Temps des aveux

 

West Coast Premiere • Drama • France, 2014

DCP • 1.85 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 95 min

Directed by: Régis Wargnier

Written by: Régis Wargnier, Antoine Audouard

Based on the books by:  Francois François Bizot (The Gate and Le Silence du Bourreau)

Cinematography: Renaud Chassaing

Film Editing: Yann Malcor, Véronique Lange

Produced by: Jean Cottin and Laurent Taïeb (Les Films du Cap), Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont)

Cast: Raphaël Personnaz (Bizot), Phoeung Kompheak (Comrade Duch), Olivier Gourmet (Marsac) 

International Sales: Gaumont

 

Spanning thirty years this story of finding humanity in the face of extreme inhumanity is set against the backdrop of the Cambodian Civil War. In 1971, François, a French ethnologist working in the Angkor temples, is captured by the Khmer Rouge. Suspected of working for the CIA, he is taken to a brutal prison camp hidden in the heart of the jungle. The young head of the camp, Comrade Duch, is intrigued by François’ candor and impetuousness – conspicuous behavior for a spy. As the two men discuss literature, politics and philosophy, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome in reverse occurs, and Duch begins to doubt that François is guilty of espionage. Though torture and execution are routine in the camp, François’ growing bond gives him hope that he might escape that fate. But he will come to understand that his friendly captor is capable of great evil. Phoeung Kompheak mesmerizes as the intellectually complex Duch, and Raphaël Personnaz’s transformation into the malnourished François is almost too convincing.

 

Few filmmakers have seen their stock rise as quickly as writer/director Régis Wargnier. His first film, The Woman of My Life (1986) won the Best First Film César. His third film, Indochine (1992), was showered with five Césars and put a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar on his mantle. Several Wargnier films have tackled the complex relationships between Europeans and the people of their colonies, including the English language epic Man To Man (2005), about anthropologists hunting pygmies for study, starring Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas. Working from François Bizot’s memoir The Gate, published in 2000, Wargnier collaborated on the script with Antoine Audouard. But it was not until Bizot published the sequel, Le Silence du Bourreau in 2011 that Wargnier felt he had the right ending for his film.

 

Quotes:

This paradox of good and evil keeps the film resonating in our minds long after we leave the theater.”

– Stephen Farber HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“The camerawork is first-rate, the acting is standout, (especially Phoeung Kompheak as Duch).”

– Charles Trapunski SCENE CREEK