Indochine Opium Scene
BackPlease visit http://www.OpiumMuseum.com/ Indochine (1992) is a French-language film that was shot on location in Southeast Asia -- Malaysia in this case. With such an advantage (opium smoking in the Chinese manner was still going on in pockets of Southeast Asia at the time) one might have thought that Indochine's opium-smoking scenes would be very realistic. Sadly, this is not the case. The scene opens with the character of Catherine Deneuve and her French naval officer lover (Vincent Perez) gazing with rapture at an old Vietnamese man who is preparing an opium pipe for smoking. The opium, skewered on the tip of the opium needle, is held just above the opium lamp's glass chimney. This was part of the complex "cooking" process in which the wad of opium (referred to by smokers as the "pill") was alternately heated, softened, and rolled into a roughly cone-shaped pellet that would be placed onto a tiny hole in the pipe-bowl before being held over the opium lamp so that the pill of opium would vaporize and could be inhaled. This "rolling of the pill" was considered an art form by aficionados of the pipe, and rolling techniques varied from region to region. There were also many odd little tools invented to assist in this most delicate process, all of them featuring surfaces against which the smoker could roll the pill to achieve the right shape. Most smokers simply used the top of the pipe-bowl as a surface on which to roll the pill of opium, but in this horribly botched scene, the old man preparing the pipe actually rolls the pill against the lip of the glass chimney of the opium lamp. The result of such a move would have been disastrous -- the pill of opium would have melted upon contact with the heated glass, and become detached from the needle. The depiction of the pill of opium being attached to the pipe-bowl is much better, and this close-up shot allows us to see how the wad of opium was stuck upon the tiny hole in the surface of the pipe-bowl with the needle passing through the pill to give it a donut-like shape. This was important because it was through the "donut hole" that the smoker would inhale the vapors as the pill of opium was heated over the lamp. I suspect the props person used a wad of clay to substitute for opium in this scene, because the way the needle is very easily pulled out of the pill leaving a nice clean hole is not realistic. This was actually the most difficult step of preparing the pipe, and getting the gooey pill of opium to stick onto the pipe-bowl while at the same time unsticking it from the tip of the needle took many hours of practice. It should be pointed out that this plain black pipe-bowl being used here is an obvious reproduction (as is the whole pipe), but what is a real pity is that the props person did not use this scene as an opportunity to show an example of the stunningly beautiful pipe-bowls that were typically used on the opium pipes of smokers of means. Usually made from fired earthenware, pipe-bowls of the late 19th and early 20th centuries often featured a type of ceramic inlay that allowed for the depiction of favorite Chinese motifs and iconography such as dragons, phoenixes, animals and symbols representing longevity, wealth, and happiness; Buddhist and Taoist deities -- the list goes on and on. While it is little known today, the Chinese once created gem-like works of art in the form of opium pipe-bowls. And now for a critique of the actual smoking... Inhaling on an opium pipe took some effort. The air was being drawn through that tiny "donut hole" I described earlier. It took strong lungs and the flow of air inhaled had to be constant or the pill of opium would stop vaporizing and burn to ash in an instant. The utterly ridiculous way in which Catherine Deneuve takes dainty puffs like a schoolgirl smoking her first cigarette (while the old man holds the pipe over the lamp allowing the opium to burn to a crisp) is laughable to anyone who has ever witnessed the authentic ritual of opium smoking. Having said that, the actress at least makes up for her feeble smoking with some rather orgasmic eye-rolling. For those interested in learning more about antique Chinese opium-smoking paraphernalia and technique, please inquire at the website for Silkworm Books. The publisher has recently released a photograph-driven art book entitled The Art of Opium Antiques, by Steven Martin. www.opiummuseum.com
Category: Film
Uploaded: February 7th, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
Author: OpiumMuseum
Length: 01:19
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Views: 32,708
Tags: art catherine cinema deneuve french indochina opium
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