The scent of green papaya

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Movie
German title The scent of green papaya
Original title Mùi đu đủ xanh,
L'Odeur de la papaye verte
Country of production Vietnam , France
original language Vietnamese
Publishing year 1993
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Trần Anh Hùng
script Trần Anh Hùng
production Christophe Rossignon
music Tôn-Thât Tiêt
camera Benoît Delhomme
cut Nicole Dedieu ,
Jean-Pierre Roques
occupation

The scent of green papaya (original title: Mùi đu đủ xanh or L'Odeur de la papaye verte ) is a feature film from 1993. The drama, filmed in Vietnamese , was directed by Trần Anh Hùngs , who also wrote the script.

action

Mùi, a twelve-year-old girl, who was fascinated by nature, came to Sài Gòn on foot from a village several kilometers away in 1951 to work as a maid for a wealthy family consisting of mother, father, grandmother and three sons. Another employee, Thi, instructs Mùi in the household, including how to prepare papayas , and becomes her confidante. Mùi leads a life devoid of comfort that is almost entirely focused on serving the family.

The father of the family, who makes a living running a textile shop, disappears one day to have fun with other women. He had previously left his family several times for some time for the same reason, but had not done so since his daughter's death seven years ago because he felt responsible for her death. He returns in poor health and dies shortly afterwards.

Ten years later, the family's business is bad. Mùi is sent to a friend of one of the sons, the pianist Khuyen, who lives alone, to work for him. Khuyen breaks up with his fiancée and begins a relationship with Mùi. He teaches her to read and write. At the end of the film, Mùi, in elegant clothes and pregnant, is sitting in an armchair reading.

Emergence

The film, produced by the French production company Les Productions Lazennec , is the feature film debut of the Vietnamese-French director Trần Anh Hùng. Trần traveled to Vietnam for the first time in 16 years while preparing the film. The original plan was to shoot the film there. However, as filming in Vietnam turned out to be too cumbersome, this plan was discarded and the film was instead made in a studio in Paris.

The cast consisted mostly of amateurs who were found in a long casting process in France. Some of them hardly had any knowledge of Vietnamese or spoke different dialects. The actress of 22-year-old Mùi, Trần Nữ Yên-Khê , is the director's wife.

Publications

The film was shown in May 1993 at the 46th Cannes International Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section . The general theatrical release in France took place on June 8, 1993. In the United States, where the film January 28, 1994 started off, played The Scent of Green Papaya about 1.9 million US dollars a.

reception

At the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Caméra d'Or , which is awarded to debut films. In 1994 he was awarded another prize for debut films, the César in the “ best first film ” category . As a Vietnamese contribution, the film was also nominated for “ Best Foreign Language Film ” at the 1994 Academy Awards , but Fernando Trueba's Belle Epoque was beaten.

The film was received positively by the majority of the critics. In Telérama , The Scent of Green Papaya was described as a “wonderful film, intense and delicate.” The weekly Le Nouvel Observateur wrote: “With his first film, Tran Anh Hung created a true masterpiece.” The lexicon of international film, on the other hand, was negative about the film: “Opulent cinema with furious camera pans, but lacquered and meaningless images. Contemporary history is left out, as is a critical reflection on the role of women. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The scent of green papaya at the Cannes Film Festival
  2. ↑ a b c d Booklet for the German DVD release of The Scent of the Green Papaya , Galileo Medien AG, 2007.
  3. ↑ The scent of green papaya. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 25, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used