THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
IN THE EVER-GROWING canon of films about Vietnam, ``The Scent of the Green Papaya'' will surely rank as the quietest. It proudly, and correctly, claims that it is closer to Proust than to ``Platoon.''
Directed and written by Tran Anh Hung, it is a guileless and visually poetic treatment of the Vietnamese women who lived on the edge of the war - but quite apart from it. Unlike Oliver Stone's ``Heaven and Earth,'' which dealt with a Vietnamese girl's sadistic war terrors, it is anything but melodramatic. Here, we rarely get out of the spacious and mysterious home where emotions are kept under wraps.
But slowly, ever so slowly, we learn about Asian society. In most subtle terms, we learn about the class structure of Vietnamese society, the suppression of women and the worship of things European.
The central character is Mui, a peasant girl who becomes a servant in a merchant class home. She is a survivor who loves her work, which centers around the preparation of meals.
The atmosphere of the home is one of hushed apprehension. But behind it all is drama. The mother-in-law hates the wife and berates her for not making her son ``happy.'' The almost-unseen man of the house runs off, again, with all the wife's savings. Clearly the women, no matter what their class, are treated as unthinking, long-suffering, cattle and, just as clearly, they willingly play their role.
The papaya is often in the brew. The symbolism deals with the fact that a papaya, when ripe, is considered a fruit but when green is a vegetable. These nonpersons, indeed, have the scent of vegetables.
The film, set in Saigon, switches from 1951 to 1961 but still the war ravages in the northern portion of the French protectorate - in the distance. Our only hint of the carnage is the sound of a plane passing over in one scene. Closeups of lush vegetation and insects abound.
In the second half of the film, Mui is sent to work at the home of a young, handsome and wealthy composer. She has been smitten with him since she was a young girl. The art of seduction, Asian style, is shown as a carefully planned, remote, kind of battle of wits - far from the blunt love trysts of our own films and society. They brush against each other, avoid each other and create chance encounters.
Watching is the name of the game here because this is almost a silent film. Debussy and Chopin pour from the piano in the home. The infatuation of upper class Vietnamese with European styles and culture is evident.
Tran Nu Yen-Khe and Lu Man San, the two actresses who portray Mui, are quite radiant.
This is the first Vietnamese film to be submitted in the Oscar race (even though it was actually filmed in France). It has a quiet, almost hypnotic, style that will, if you let it, transport you from the hectic life of our rushed society.
It is not for the impatient, but it's mute grace is quite unique. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``The Scent of the Green Papaya''
Cast: Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Lu Man San, Truong Thi Loc
Director and writer: Tran Anh Hung
Music: Ton-That Tiet
MPAA rating: (Not rated but brief sexual situation)
Mal's rating: three stars
Location: Naro in Norfolk by CNB