TRAPS

Australia, 1993, 93 minutes, Colour.
Saskia Reeves, Robert Reynolds, Sami Frey, Jacqueline Mc Kenzie.
Directed by Pauline Chan.

Traps is an adaptation of a novel by award-winning author Kate Grenville. It was adapted for the screen by Robert Carter and directed by Carter’s wife, Pauline Chan. Pauline Chan had made two shorts and was to make another feature film during the 1990s, Little White Lies.

Pauline Chan had a Vietnamese background and the film deals with the perspectives on colonialism in Indochina – the perspective of the 50s where the film is set and the perspective of the 90s, after the American experience, when the film was made.

The film focuses on a couple, Saskia Reeves and Robert Reynolds, and the people who intrude into their lives. It also shows the uprising, the conflict, the sentiment against the French which led to the defeat of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

The cast is led by British actress Saskia Reeves (The Bridge, Antonia and Jane). French actor and singer Sami Frey is also in the cast as in Jacqueline Mc Kenzie who had begun her film career two years earlier with a striking performance in Romper Stomper.

An interesting Australian-made perspective on events in Indochina.

1.An Australian and Indochinese perspective on the history of Indochina in the '50s? The perspective of the '90s? Indochina, colonialism? Individuals caught up in this atmosphere?

2.The adaptation of the Kate Grenville novel and the transfer of setting from Tuscany to Indochina?

3.The work of Pauline Chan as actress and director? Her Vietnamese background? Her experience in Australia? The writing, the adapting of the novel?

4.Authentic atmosphere for the film? The re-creation of the period? The location photography, the countryside, the colonial home? The musical score?

5.The title and its references? Indochina and the traps of colonialism and the forthcoming wars? The characters caught up in these traps? Politics, economics, journalism, the media? People trapped in relationships and these being symbolic of the broader traps?

6.The audience moving in and out of Indochina with Louise? Her being a photographer, taking snaps of what she saw and interpreting them? Audiences interpreting with her? Her relationship to the country, to the Vietnamese, to her experiences? The changing of her relationships with people because of this journey, with Michael, with Daniel, with Viola? The background for Michael and Louise? British and Australian? Western perceptions? The writing of reports, of articles? Sending back photos? The influence of this kind of career? Reinforcing the colonial status, especially of the planters? The perspective of 1950? The changes of the '50s?

7.The portrait of Michael and Louise in themselves? The bonds between them, their marriage, their personal search? The collaboration in their work? The decision to come to Indochina? The hopes for the salvaging of the marriage? Their love for each other? The impact of the sex scenes? The sexuality of each? Fulfilling each other's needs? Passionate yet brittle? Breaking apart?

8.Michael and Louise arriving in Indochina? The car, the driver, the language of the driver? Louise wanting to go to the toilet? Her being watched? The tension?

9.Indochina and the status of the workers? The experience of colonialism? The leader of the workers? The influence of the communists? The leader and his love for Viola? Work on the plantations, conditions, French contracts? The hours, the payments? The background of war, violence? The various political groups? Execution? The build-up to the house being searched? The killing of the soldier? The importance of the westerners leaving? Those who stayed? The war about to break out and its consequences?

10.Daniel and his place in Indochina? The French heritage? Viola and her place in the colony? Her relationship with her father? The absent mother? Colonial overlords? Daniel and his welcome to Michael and Louise? Viola and her sarcasm and mimicry? The style of family life, servants, meals? Daniel and his supervision of his workers? Justice and mercy? With each of the workers? The leader? His interaction with Michael and Louise? His philosophy of colonialism? The build-up to the drama, the siege of the house? The killing of the soldier? The impact of his sexual relationship with Michael? The confrontation with the ending? The shooting? Michael's death, Louise's horror? Viola and her decision to leave? A personal decadence? Symbol of colonial attitudes? The idyllic turned to the tragic for the westerners?

11.Viola, her background, the initial encounter with Louise and mimicking her? Her rudeness? Her relationship with her father? Going out, the picnic and the swimming, challenging Louise to dive? Louise ultimately daring and going into the water? The gradual friendship with Louise? The dress, going to the market? Viola taking the opportunity to see her lover? Her lies? Going with Louise to the hideout? The chase, the expectations of death? The singing of the song? Her return to the household, the siege, the violence, her reaction to her father, the death of her lover? Going away forever?

12.Michael and his attitude towards the family, relaxing, the swim, the lotion and Daniel's touch, the lotion and his touch of Louise? The business of the plantation? The background for the article? Observing, the workers, their payment, justice? The clash with Louise about the photos that she took and their being used? Growing anxious, his growing resentment? Suspicion of Louise and her absence? Ultimately being caught in the dark room? The encounter with Daniel and its repercussions on him? The end of the marriage? The irony of his being shot?

13.Louise and her observing people and the situation? Her ignorance and coming to understand? Her relationship with Michael, love, sex? The diving? Intrigued by Viola? The dress, the market? Her range of photographs and their danger? Being taken by the Indochinese, thinking that she was going to die, the song? The collage of images and the style of 16mm stream of consciousness images? Her photos, the dark room, the tension, the fact that they had killed a soldier? The effect, the planning to leave? Michael's death?

14.Daniel and his relationships? Sexuality? Reassuring Michael that it was nothing? The intensity of the fleeting relationships? Symbolic of being trapped? Of the relationships within the social and political context?

15.The background of 1950s politics in the area? A personalised story as a means of understanding and interpreting in hindsight?