Film
The Gate (film)
The Gate (Le Temps des aveux) is a 2014 drama by Régis Wargnier about a French ethnologist held by the Khmer Rouge and his bond with his interrogator.[1][2] It tells the true story of François Bizot and is based on his books Le Portail and Le Silence du bourreau.[1][3]
Synopsis
In Cambodia in 1971, Bizot is working on the restoration of the temples of Angkor when the Khmer Rouge take him prisoner.[4] He is held in a remote jungle camp and accused of working for the CIA.[4] His survival depends on persuading Douch, the camp's young leader, that he is innocent.[4] In the camp he sees the reality of Khmer Rouge indoctrination, and a bond grows between the prisoner and his jailer.[3] Douch helps Bizot leave Cambodia, and the two men cross paths again years later under very different circumstances.[1] The real Bizot was imprisoned for three months in 1971 and later served as the French embassy's translator and go-between with the Khmer Rouge until he was forced to flee the country.[5]
Production and credits
Régis Wargnier and Antoine Audouard wrote the screenplay.[2] Jean Cottin, Sidonie Dumas and Rithy Panh produced the film, with Panh as its Cambodian producer.[2][1] Les Films du Cap and Gaumont led the production, with France 3 Cinéma as co-producer and SCOPE Pictures and Bophana Production as foreign production companies.[4] Renaud Chassaing was the director of photography, Yann Malcor and Véronique Lange edited the film, and Elisabeth Lehuger-Rousseau designed the costumes.[4]
Raphaël Personnaz plays Bizot and Phoeung Kompheak plays Douch.[2] The cast also includes Olivier Gourmet as Marsac, Thorn Thanet as Néang, Boren Chhith as Lay, Rathana Soth as Phuong and Steve Driesen as Father Vernet.[2] Many of the actors are non-professionals.[1] Wargnier shot the film entirely on location in Cambodia.[6] It is a majority-French production made with partners in France, Belgium and Cambodia, and its dialogue is in French and Khmer.[4] Unifrance and Wikipedia give a running time of 95 minutes; Gaumont gives 96 minutes.[4][2][3]
Release and reception
The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 2014, and screened in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014.[2] It also played in the Open Cinema program at the Busan International Film Festival and at the CINEMANIA Francophone Film Festival in Canada that year, and it had a preview screening in Cambodia.[4] Gaumont released it in France on December 17, 2014.[4] In 2015 it was selected for The American French Film Festival, the Richmond French Film Festival and the French Cinema Today Festival in Russia, and in 2025 for the Waterloo Historical Film Festival's program for schools in Belgium.[4] The ASEM Cultural Festival in Cambodia scheduled screenings on November 22 and 24, 2021, with support from the European Union and the Asia-Europe Foundation.[7]
Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film raises profound issues that make it hard to forget.[8] Kent Turner of Film-Forward.com rated it two out of four, finding it restrained but writing that some of its mostly non-professional cast were not suited to the script's life-and-death demands.[8]
At the Cambodia Town Film Festival
The film had its Long Beach premiere at the Cambodia Town Film Festival, screened in French with English subtitles on Sunday, September 4, 2016.[1]
- 2016: official selection.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cambodia Town Film Festival, CTFF 2016 Official Selection: THE GATE (Les temps des Aveux) (archived)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Wikipedia, The Gate (2014 film) (2014-07-27)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gaumont, The Gate
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 Unifrance, The Gate by Régis Wargnier (2014) (2016-01-01)
- ↑ University of Western Australia, First They Killed My Father (2017) and The Gate (2014) (2025-01-14)
- ↑ Cambodia Town Film Festival (archived, 2016-08-16)
- ↑ Asia-Europe Foundation, ASEM Cultural Festival Cambodia programme (2021)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes, The Gate