The Lover is a 1992 drama film produced by Claude Berri and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel by Marguerite Duras, the film details the illicit affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man in 1929 Vietnam. In the screenplay written by Annaud and Gérard Brach, the 15 1/2-year-old protagonist is portrayed by actress Jane March, who turned eighteen shortly after filming began. The Chinese man's age is changed from 27 to 32. Production began in 1989, with filming commencing in 1991. The film made its theatrical debut on 22... January 1992, with an English release in the United Kingdom in June and in the United States in October of the same year. The film won the Motion Picture Sound Editors's 1993 Golden Reel award for "Best Sound Editing — Foreign Feature" and the 1993 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film. It received mostly negative reviews from American critics. However the film's performances and cinematography were generally praised. The primary characters are known only as The Young Girl and The Chinaman.
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| Release date: | January 22, 1992 |
| Directed by: | Jean-Jacques Annaud |
| Runtime: | 115 Minutes |
| Producer: | Claude Berri |
| Editor: | Noëlle Boisson |
| Music by: | Gabriel Yared |
| Cinematography: | Robert Fraisse |
| Screenplay by: | Jean-Jacques Annaud, Gérard Brach |
| Estimated budget: | $30,000,000 |
| Adapted from: | L'Amant |