The Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnamese: Mùi đu đủ xanh, French: L'Odeur de la papaye verte) is a 1993 Vietnamese-language French drama film directed by Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung, and starring Tran Nu Yên-Khê, Man San Lu, and Thi Loc Truong.[2]
Although set in Vietnam, the film was shot entirely on a soundstage in Bry-sur-Marne, France.
Plot
A young girl, Mùi, becomes a servant for a family in pre-unification (1951) Saigon that was once wealthy but is sinking into genteel 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, an invalid who seldom leaves her upstairs room, blames her daughter-in-law, telling her, "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 - who idolizes his father - is willful, disruptive, and resentful. Mùi is notably peaceful and intensely curious about the world. Having lost a young daughter during one of her husband's earlier absences, the wife is kind to Mùi, treating her like one of her own.
When the husband leaves for his fourth and final time, he steals his wife's meagre savings and jewelry. He stays away long enough for the family to almost run out of food and go hungry. He returns with some of the jewelry he took, but collapses soon after his return home; the wife sells an heirloom vase and other valuables in anticipation of imminent medical expenses, and a doctor is summoned. As he is treated with acupuncture, musicians play cheerful music outside the room. When he dies, the wife faints, and the family is shocked.
Ten years later, the family has fallen on hard times. Two sons have left, and the wife has taken the place of the grandmother upstairs, tragic and rarely seen. On the family shrine, the grandmother's and husband's photos have joined those of other departed relatives. It is determined that the household can no longer afford to keep Mùi. The heartbroken wife gives Mùi a silk dress and some gold jewelry, and Mùi becomes a servant for the older son's wealthy friend, who is now a concert pianist. He is engaged to be married but seems to prefer playing the piano to spending time with his frivolous fiancée.
One night, as the fiancée chatters on, his piano playing becomes more stormy as he strives to ignore her. She leaves but watches through the window and sees that when Mùi enters the room, his playing becomes both passionate and peaceful. Later that night, he goes to Mùi's quarters and closes the door behind him. When the fiancée learns of this, she furiously slaps Mùi, smashes some of his belongings, and then leaves her engagement ring on a table. When he returns, he calmly pockets the ring. He starts teaching Mùi to read and write. In the final scene, a visibly pregnant Mùi is reading poetry to him and smiles.
Produced by French production company Les Productions Lazennec, the film is the debut feature film of Vietnamese-born French director Tran Anh Hung. Tran traveled to Vietnam for the first time in 16 years while the film was being prepared, making several trips to Ho Chi Minh City with his French producer Christophe Rossington. They originally planned to shoot the film on location in Vietnam. However, as filming in Vietnam proved to be too cumbersome, this plan was scrapped and the film was made in a studio in France instead. They reconstructed downtown Saigon at the studios of Bry-sur-Marne.[6][7]
The cast consisted mostly of amateurs, found through a lengthy casting process. Except for the old servant who they brought from Vietnam, all the actors were from France. Some of them had hardly any knowledge of Vietnamese or spoke different dialects. The actress who played Mùi, Tran Nu Yên-Khê, is the director's wife.[6][7]
