TRAPS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1995 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
TRAPS is an Australian film by a very promising first time director, Pauline Chan. It is set in "1950 French Occupied Indo-China", a.k.a., Vietnam. The movie is billed correctly as an erotic thriller. Usually when a movie attempts this, it succeeds at one and fails miserably at the other. Although audiences may have a hard time envisioning the Communists as saviors of simple purity and the French as sadistic Nazis, it is not a major problem since the one sided political views of the writers (Robert Carter and Pauline Chan based on the novel "Dreamhouse" by Kate Grenville) are secondary and easily ignored. As an erotic thriller, it works.
Michael Duffield (Robert Reynolds) is a writer for a French rubber company. He brings his wife Louise (Saskia Reeves), who is a photographer, with him on assignment to the company's rubber plantation in Indo-China. Upon arrival they are driven to the plantation by the company's driver Tuan (Kiet Lam). The couple is a bit concerned about their safety in this new land since they keep hearing gunfire and bombs going off somewhere. On the road to the plantation Louise insists that she needs to go to the bathroom to which Tuan stops the car and says in a great line of many meanings, "everywhere toilet."
When they get to the plantation they are greeted by a creepy French host, Captain Brochard (Thierry Marquet) and his sickly, strange daughter Viola (Jacqueline McKenzie). The plantation is beautiful, but in semi-decay providing another metaphor for the problems facing them. The sets by Michael Philips are just the right gothic blend of realism and surrealism. The audience never knows whether to soak in the beauty of the country (thanks to the cinematography by Kevin Haywar) or be on its guard for some evil lurking around the corner. The Viet Minh are everywhere.
The Duffields are very naive. As bombs are going off, they ask Tuan, "Is it really dangerous around here? The Viet Minh?" The wife forms a simple but genuine rapport and empathy for the locals. She seems confused as to why anyone would be fighting anyone there.
We soon find that there are two parallel plots to the show. One involves the repression of Louise by her husband and her desire for sexual freedom. The other deals with whether anyone will ever make it out alive. Both tales work. Overall, the picture reminded me of THE INCREDIBLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.
There are many good scenes. A simple one with a lot of power has the Captain volunteering to Michael to rub mosquito repellent on Louise's shoulders - watch carefully the expressions on everyone's faces, especially Louise's. Another is Michael's reaction when he wakes up from a drunken stupor. For tension, none beats the one when all of them go in hiding.
Another reason the tension work so well is that the director provides such a feeling of normalcy that is broken periodically by cars running over booby-trapped roads or people shooting at each other in fields. It is as if a normal life is covered by a morose scrim of impending doom. Only Tuan seems to get it. He tries to tell them, explaining, "here underneath, nothing right, nothing safe."
The acting is all quite good. My favorite is Saskia Reeves who has the pent up emotions of a James Woods. You felt like she was going to explode at any time and yet she keeps her emotions in check most of the time. She is a beautiful actress who excels at both the erotic and the thriller parts in the movie. I have never seen her act before, but I hope to again.
The tension and the images that Pauline Chan creates in TRAPS made me ready to see her next motion picture as well. Although the movie is uneven in parts and its political logic is dubious at best, it does well what it set out to do.
TRAPS runs a fast 1:36 thanks to crisp editing by Nicholas Beauman. The movie is in English plus a little French and a little Vietnamese with English subtitles. It is correctly rated R for some violence, some nudity, and very explicit and effective sex scenes. I think the movie would be okay for mature teenagers. I recommend TRAPS to you, and I give it ** 1/2.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: December 18, 1995
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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