Der Duft der grünen Papaya

As far away from Terminator as you can get. This gentle-paced story has followed me for years. Long after I forgot most of the story-line, the mood has lingered on in my heart and my mind. This is film as Art and not mere entertainment in the same was as Tolstoy or Tjechov is Art as opposed to the dime-a-dozen love-novels found in cheep kiosks. The acting is excellent and convincing, the spars dialog is natural, the photo is almost breathtaking and the original score by modernist contemporary vietnamese composer is superb. This is cinematic contemplation.

Beautiful cinematography and great story line. Mui is the servant girl of a prominent family, but when times get tough she is sent to work elsewhere. Now that she is working for a handsome new master she has to deal with her emotions toward him. It is an enthralling story and even though it is subtitled in English you will not spend all your time reading since most of the story is visual. The pace moves along nicely.

This is the 1st Vietnamese film ever released in the USA.

To say movie is beautiful will be understatement. Movie moves with extreme calmness yet refreshingly different and visually appealing. What impresses most about the movie is, it tells the story of a family girl and how she identifies her in the surroundings, with the family he is living and more importantly with his emotions. Slow pace of the movie helps the calm effect and suddenly takes the viewer by surprise the way story unfolds. The way little girl learns the art of cooking, they way she learns about the secrets of the family is impressive. More importantly hidden desires of the girl shown in the movie is the master stroke of director. Music needs special praise so as acting.

Stunningly beautiful!! 8/10

"Cyclo", the film Tran Ahn Hung made following this, his debut, is one of my all-time favorite films. This film isn't bad at all, but nowhere close to that masterpiece. No question Tran Ahn Hung is a very good filmmaker, but this wasn't quite compelling enough. Pretty to look at, but not a whole lot else. Ultimately I think the film is just slightly too subdued for it's own good, and threatens to disappear into it's own poetic reverie. Also, at times the film was distractingly stagey, not surprising considering that it was shot entirely on a set. Particularly problematic were the outdoor scenes, although there weren't very many of them.

In Tran Anh Hung's debut film The Scent of Green Papaya, Mui (Lu Man San) is a ten-year old girl who comes from a small village to the home of a wealthy Saigon merchant to work as a servant in 1951. The first Vietnamese film ever nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film, Scent of Green Papaya captures the natural beauty of pre-war Vietnam, even though it was filmed on a set constructed in a Paris studio. Mui personifies the innocence of a Vietnamese society where grace and harmony has not yet given way to bombs and destruction. Mui accepts her place with patience, serving the meals, preparing the vegetables, scrubbing the floors, and polishing the shoes.

True to the Buddhist ideal of being in the present moment, Mui studiously carries out her tasks, refusing to be affected by the torments of the younger son Tin (Gerard Neth), upset over his father's desertion of the family. She observes her natural surroundings in great detail: ants carrying a small piece of bread, a frog sitting on a leaf, a cricket jumping at night, and the seeds of a green papaya. The mother (Thi Loc Truong) is distraught over the recent death of her young daughter To and looks upon Mui as her replacement, perhaps even her reincarnation. In one scene, the mother stands over Mui while she sleeps and weeps silently for the loss of her daughter and perhaps for a Vietnam that she knows will soon disappear.

Her husband (Ngoc Trun Tran) is a drinker and womanizer who has run off with the family's money. The mother is stoic and we only hear about her problems through the elderly grandmother (Thi Hai Vo) who mourns her dead husband alone in her upstairs room. The second part of the film shifts ten years into the future. Mui (Tran Nu Yen-Khe) has become a young woman. Because of the family's financial condition she has moved to the house of Khuyen, a professional musician and composer (Vuong Hoa Hoi). Her leaving triggers in the mother a profound sense of loss for her "daughter" and a sense that the old way of life in her country is coming to a permanent end.

In her new house, Mui must contend with the musician's Westernized fiancé who personifies the artificiality of modern society. Annoyed with the insensitivity of his fiancé, Khuyen sees Mui with fresh eyes and begins to realize how much she embodies the traditional values he has left behind. Though the film may try the patience of Western audiences, The Scent of Green Papaya, in its simplicity and awareness of the natural world, reminds us of the power of cinema to reach artistic heights.