The primary characters are known only as The Young Girl and The Chinese Man. The daughter of bitter, fearful, poverty-stricken colonials, she is a pretty waif who likes to wear an old silk dress and a man's fedora and paint her lips bright red when out of her mother's sight. She hates everything about her existence — her teachers, her fellow students, and most of all her depraved, dysfunctional family. The son of a Chinese businessman whose fortune was made in real estate, he recently has returned from Paris after dropping out of school. He has the look but lacks the self-assurance of the playboy he fancies himself to be, and he is mesmerized the first time he sees her standing by the rail on a crowded ferry crossing the Mekong River.
He offers her a ride to Saigon in his chauffeur-driven limousine and she accepts, although the two barely speak during the drive. The Girl gives her age at the beginning of the film as 15½, but lies to The Chinese Man by stating that she is 18. The following day, he waits for her outside her boarding school, and the two go to the room he rents for entertaining mistresses in the seedy Chinese quarter, where they make love. Afterward she confesses she doesn't care for Chinese people, and he retaliates by telling her he could not marry her because she no longer is a virgin. Thus begins a tempestuous affair both know will not last. She is scheduled to return to Paris. He is expected to engage in an arranged marriage with a Chinese heiress. Aware of the limited time they have together, they fall into a relationship in which they shed all responsibilities that come with commitment.
He offers her a ride to Saigon in his chauffeur-driven limousine and she accepts, although the two barely speak during the drive. The Girl gives her age at the beginning of the film as 15½, but lies to The Chinese Man by stating that she is 18. The following day, he waits for her outside her boarding school, and the two go to the room he rents for entertaining mistresses in the seedy Chinese quarter, where they make love. Afterward she confesses she doesn't care for Chinese people, and he retaliates by telling her he could not marry her because she no longer is a virgin. Thus begins a tempestuous affair both know will not last. She is scheduled to return to Paris. He is expected to engage in an arranged marriage with a Chinese heiress. Aware of the limited time they have together, they fall into a relationship in which they shed all responsibilities that come with commitment.
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