La troisième femme

A very impressive debut from the director. Well deserving of the Golden Hugo. Though the end was ethically very disturbing for me, the film was consistent in its visual and aural appeal throughout, especially the end sequence. A director to watch. A very good choice of actresses.

Vietnam is presented as a heavenly tropical country in the 19th century, without insects or reptiles (a lizard is the only exception) even in bamboo groves, with washed linen hung out white as snow. One would wish more realism to match the time frame of the story.

Why was this film not Vietnam's Oscar submission for 2019 in the Foreign Language Film category? I guess there were technical reasons.

Filmed as late 18, early 1900s Vietnam but applies throughout the world today, especially where conservative religious precepts prevail, we see three of the main suppressors of female equality. First, we have forced marriage. Second, we have family honor (usually supposed female dishonor w/consequences). Third, infant female infanticide for, well, not being a male. Are females in many family units value ranked beneath males, livestock & Trump? Several scenes toward the end were not clear, for those not sure Nightshade was suggested, but may not have been accurately presented.

This is well shot and very pretty with glorious distant vistas and plant and insect close-ups. The pace is slow and although the depiction of 19th century Vietnamese rural life picturesque enough there is an awfulness here from start to finish. Unfortunately we are too familiar with tales from China and the Far East and Asia generally even today of the problems caused by favouring the birth of boys over girls to be particularly surprised by the extent of the awfulness depicted here. Yes, it is dreadful but this seems almost prurient in its constant close-ups of very young girls being displayed for very old men and that despite everything, the torture, the killing and the suicides that all is for the best. Beautiful but harrowing.

Again, this movie premiered in 2018 at TIFF but had its wider release in 2019. This movie is slow, but it's gorgeous and very well-acted. There are so many striking visuals and tons of symbolism. This movie is also very sad and very disturbing. It's about a young teenage girl in 1800s Vietnam becoming the third wife of an older man in hopes to give him a son, and it just gets worse from there. This movie deals with some very heavy subject matter and it certainly isn't for everyone, it can be pretty uncomfortable, but I thought it was great and think it's worth a watch. It's depressing, but very good.

The acting here is natural and powerful and the sets are so well constructed that you actually feel like you're in late 19th century Vietnam. But I really struggled to connect in a positive way with the culture of those times.

The film, written and directed by Ash Mayfair who is making her feature debut, contains extremely striking realism amidst very slow pacing. The thought of an innocent 14-year-old girl May (Nguyen Phuong Tra My) being subjugated into an arranged marriage with a wealthy landowner, and to fulfill his sexual desires (some quite kinky) along with two other wives was a turn-off for me.

May's main role will be to produce a male heir, as the other two wives have failed to do so thus far. She also will awaken to the fact that she is attracted to other women and try to figure out if her own desires can be fulfilled. Without writing any spoilers let's just say that the circumstances of her existence in that environment will lend itself to a possible tragic finale.

All in all, the beauty of the characters and the settings could not overcome for me the starkness and negativity of the themes here and it was just not an enjoyable watch.