A Terceira Esposa

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.

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.

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.

A girl in 19th Century Viet Nam.

Lots of symbols to decipher and hidden lessons to be learnt here but I guess there're too many for my tastes: if I try hard and still can't make sense of something - it's the author's fault.

This said, the film is beautifully written, shot, acted and produced (while misteriously antiseptic and eerie in the music, scenography, palette and fauna depicted).

Unfortunately the value of a movie is what I get out of it and it wasn't much: women's life in a place, at a time, in specific socio-economic circumstances (something for which history books are far better); less than a dozen of artistically worthy scenes and a bit of boredom.

The movie was beautifully made, good actors and the music was excellent. The film was strangely both calm and intense at the same time. It clearly shows the woman's view of the traditions, which is still relevant today.