The Scent of Green Papaya
Mùi du du xanh - L'odeur de la papaye verte
France, Vietnam
1993
104 Min
Color
1.66:1
Vietnamese
Synopsis
A little girl, Mui, went to a house as a new servant. The mother still mourns the death of her daughter, who would have been Mui’s age. In her mind she treated Mui as her daughter. 10 years later Mui (now a young woman) was sent to another family, a young pianist and his wife. The musician falls in love with the peasant, he taught her literacy and they eventually married. A movie about a girl’s life. –IMDb
Director
Tran Anh Hung
Trần Anh Hùng (born December 23, 1962) is a French film director of Vietnamese ancestry.
He was born in Đà Nẵng, Central Vietnam, and emigrated to France when he was 12 following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Being exposed to and loving classic films, Tran indicated the immense effect they had upon spurring his film-making desires. Admittedly, Bergman, Tarkovsky and Kurosawa all had a hand in the evolution of his directorial aspirations.
His Oscar-nominated debut (for Best Foreign Film) was with the The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) which also won two top prizes at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and his followup Cyclo (1995) featured top Hong Kong movie star Tony Leung Chiu Wai, also eventually nabbing a top prize at the Venice International Film Festival. The Vertical Ray of the Sun, released in 2000, was the third film in what many consider now to be his “Vietnam trilogy.”
After a sabbatical, it… read more
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Johnny Vong
4Jun11
Still holds up as one of my favourites. It’s also one of the greatest and few films from Vietnam. Quiet, idyllic, and as evocative to the senses as anything I’ve ever seen. It’s rare to see a simple film about love and innocence set during pre-war Saigon when Hollywood has churned out titles such as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket.
Matthew_Lucas
24Apr11
An unusual and evocative tale of love in prewar Vietnam, punctuated by lush cinematography & sound design. It's a strangely intoxicating work, often wordless, characterized by an oddly entrancing score. The sound of unseen jets suggest encroaching war on a society on the brink of destruction. Tran Anh Hung's debut feature is a strange beauty of a film. As delicate and mysterious as the smoke of incense.
penguin likes this
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Articles
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THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA Blu-ray Review
By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011
Kino International:An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Tran Anh Hung’s “luxuriant, visually seductive debut” (New York Times) recreates antebellum Vietnam through both the wide eyes
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Pas mauvais, pas bon non plus
By Benoît on June 22, 2011
On sent que c’est un film sur l’Asie réalisé par quelqu’un ayant une forte culture occidentale. Tran Anh Hung décide de revenir sur son pays qui l’a vu naître, mais filme le tout comme un Français… read review
Untitled
By Lefteris Becerra on October 23, 2009
casi de acuerdo contigo jan, excepto porque más allá de las cuestiones de forma que describes puntualmente y que la separan de las narraciones tradicionales fundadas en mucho en la palabra, la cinta… read review
EL PERFUME DE LA PAPAYA VERDE : LA PERFECTA ARMONIA ENTRE LA SENCILLEZ Y LA FASCINACIÓN
By VENIMOS LOS JODIMOS Y NOS FUIMOS on October 8, 2009
Saigòn, Vietnam,1951. Una calida y silenciosa noche de verano. Desde el fondo de un callejòn, aparece la figura de una pequeña niña de 10 años de edad de nombre Mui (Man San Lu), quien ha sido llamada… read review
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The Scent of the Green Papaya (1993)
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5 months ago