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 jailer.[1] It tells the true story of François Bizot and is based on his books Le Portail and Le Silence du bourreau.[1][2]

Film poster: a blindfolded man in white is led by two armed soldiers down a temple corridor lit from above.
French poster for Le Temps des aveux (The Gate, 2014).

Synopsis

In Cambodia in 1971, Bizot is working on the restoration of the temples of Angkor when the Khmer Rouge take him prisoner.[1] He is held in a remote jungle camp, and his captors suspect him of working for the CIA.[1][3] His survival depends on persuading Douch, the camp's young leader, that he is innocent.[1] In the camp he sees the reality of Khmer Rouge indoctrination, and a bond grows between the prisoner and his jailer.[1] Years later, the two men meet again.[4][5] The real Bizot was imprisoned for three months in 1971. He later worked as the French embassy's translator and go-between with the Khmer Rouge, until he had to leave the country.[2]

A man in a dark shirt and green cap sits writing at a wooden desk in a bamboo hut.
A scene from The Gate (2014).

Production and credits

Régis Wargnier and Antoine Audouard wrote the screenplay.[3][6] Jean Cottin and Laurent Taïeb of Les Films du Cap and Sidonie Dumas of Gaumont produced the film.[3] Gaumont and Les Films du Cap led the production, and its co-producers included France 3 Cinéma and Bophana Production.[1] Renaud Chassaing was the director of photography, and Yann Malcor and Véronique Lange edited the film.[3]

Armed soldiers in black escort a man in a white shirt through a dry forest.
A scene from The Gate (2014).

Raphaël Personnaz plays Bizot and Phoeung Kompheak plays Douch.[5] The cast also includes Olivier Gourmet as Marsac, Thanet Thorn as Neang, Boren Chhith as Lay and Rathana Soth as Phuong.[5][6] Many of the actors are non-professionals.[5] Its countries of production are France, Belgium and Cambodia, and its original language is French.[7][1] The COLCOA French Film Festival program and the ASEM Cultural Festival program give a running time of 95 minutes; Gaumont gives 96 minutes.[3][8][1]

Release and reception

In 2014 the film screened at the Telluride Film Festival and in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival.[7][4] In 2015 it had its West Coast premiere at the COLCOA French Film Festival.[3] The ASEM Cultural Festival in Cambodia, supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation and the European Union, scheduled screenings on November 22 and 24, 2021.[8]

Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film raises profound issues that make it hard to forget.[5] 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.[5]

References 8
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Gaumont, The Gate
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 University of Western Australia, First They Killed My Father (2017) and The Gate (2014) (2025-01-14)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 COLCOA French Film Festival, The Gate / Le Temps des aveux (2015 program)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Film Threat, 2014 Toronto International Film Festival announces first wave of Special Presentations and Gala programming (July 22, 2014)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Rotten Tomatoes, The Gate
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Movie Database, The Gate (2014): cast and crew
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Film Threat, 2014 Telluride Film Festival announces program (August 28, 2014)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Asia-Europe Foundation, ASEM Cultural Festival Cambodia programme (2021)
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This page was last edited on 22 October 2026, at 04:28.