Camera d’Or Year 16 (1993): Hung Tran Anh’s “The Scent of Green Papaya” from Vietnam

New Book for Cannes Film Festival at 80! (in May 2027)

Almost wordless, and marked by great pictorial visuals, The Scent of the Green Papayas is one of the most beautiful films seen in years.

Directed by Hung Tran Anh, this Vietnamese-French co-production is set in Vietnam in the 1950s, when the country was under the French occupation.

The tale’s heroine is Mui, a 12-year old servant, who frames the evolving tale, which is defined by unexpected twists and turns, with her delicate presence and subjective point of view.

The film won the Caméra d’Or prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Fest, César (French Oscar) for Best Debut, and was nominated for the 1993 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Tran Anh Hung’s first feature stars his wife, Tran Nu Yên-Khê, and marks his first collaboration with Vietnamese composer Tôn-Thât Tiêt, who would compose the music for two more films, includng Cyclo.

A young girl, Mùi, becomes a servant for a family in pre-unification (1951) Saigon that was once wealthy but is sinking into poverty due to the husband’s infidelities and spending sprees. Their only income is from the wife’s small fabric/textile shop. The husband’s widowed mother, who’s invalid, blames her daughter-in-law: “You have a man, but you don’t know how to keep him happy.”

The eldest son prefers his friend’s company, the bookish middle son torments insects, and the youngest is disruptive and resentful. Having lost a young daughter during her husband’s absence, the wife is kind to Mùi, who is intensely curious about the world.

When the husband leaves for good, he steals his wife’s meagre savings and jewelry. Later on, He returns with some of the jewelry, but collapses, forcing his wife to sell valuables in order to pay for the medical expenses.

Ten years after the husband dies, the family has fallen on hard times. Two sons have left, and the wife has taken the place of the grandmother upstairs. No longer able to keep Mùi, the latter becomes a servant for the older son’s wealthy friend, a concert pianist. In time, he starts teaching Mùi to read and write, and gradually they fall in love. In the final scene, a pregnant Mùi is reading poetry to him.

One of the picture’s great achievements, other than its gorgeous tableaux, is that politics remains in the background and its impact on the characters is felt in subtle ways.

Though set in Vietnam, the film was shot entirely on a soundstage in Bry-sur-Marne, France.

New Book for Cannes Film Fest at 80! (2027)

Caméra d’Or Winning Films (1978-Present)