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Review: The Scent of Green Papaya (Mùi đu đủ xanh) (1993)
After weeks of more exciting movies, finally a calm one. However, I can't say that I liked this one that much. It was okay, but it didn't touch me.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie followed Mui, a servant girl. From a young age, she worked for a family with three sons. The father was prone to running away for affairs and gambling. There was a grandmother who never left her room, just praying all day. The family once had a daughter who would have been the same age as Mui, but had died 7 years prior. The mistress of the house was kind to Mui, though obviously she struggled to keep the family together.
The father ran away once again, and this time when he returned, he fell ill, dying soon after.
Mui stayed with the family for ten years, after which the family fell deeper into poverty. The mistress finally let go of Mui, sending her to work for a wealthy friend of the eldest son's, whom Mui had always kind of had a crush on. When she left, the mistress gave her a dress and some jewellery, things she would have given her own daughter when she left home.
Mui worked peacefully at the home of Khuyen, whom was a pianist. He had a fiancee who was more concerned with going out and having fun. It was implied that Khuyen one night had intimate relations with Mui. The fiancee found out and broke off the engagement.
Khuyen later on began to teach Mui to read, and at the end of the movie, a pregnant Mui read to Khuyen.
With the way the movie went, I would say it was supposed to follow Mui's life to happiness. However, I felt that the two parts of the movies were not cohesive.
Given the big family we were introduced to in the first half of the movie, there was a lot of potential for plot and character development for Mui. But we never got much more than the fact that the mistress was kind to Mui, and that the youngest son Tin was always playing pranks on Mui. Also, Mui struck up a friendship with Mr. Thuan and helped him see grandmother once. But none of this shaped Mui.
Considering Mui would go on to live in Khuyen's household, perhaps we could have seen more of Mui's crush on Khuyen (which we had only seen very briefly at the beginning), turning this into a romance.
How did the collapse of the family affect Mui, if she stayed with the family for 10 years and maintained a smiling face? Did the mistress treat Mui as a daughter in ways other than not yelling at her and sometimes patting her head? The mistress had hoped that Lam would take on Mui as a wife (as they were similar in age). But we never got any interaction between them, so that almost came out of nowhere.
I felt that the story opened with too much and did not do anything with it. I didn't feel that Mui grew at all. Even 10 years later, she was the same little girl, with no wants, ambitions, or personality other than being silent.
Production
I found out on Wikipedia that this movie was filmed entirely in a set. It was a little noticeable when we saw shots on the street, but I couldn't tell in the scenes within the house, so the lighting was pretty good in that way.
I didn't think the acting was very good, to be honest. I think the best actor was probably the mistress. Otherwise, most of the characters were very wooden, and it was most noticeable with the young adult characters like Khuyen, Trung, and even an adult Mui.
Characters
Mui
Mui was our main character, sent to work with this family at a young age. She was a good kid, who did what she was told and never caused any trouble. Even when she did get into trouble, we usually saw that it was Tin playing pranks on her, and that the mistress was generally lenient on her, probably because she saw Mui as somewhat of a replacement for her own lost daughter.
Mui had a mother and a sister back home, but her father had died three years ago. Unfortunately, probably not an unusual story. The mistress was kind and allowed her to see her mother in three months' time. But we saw that over time, Mui came to see the mistress as her own mother too.
Mui had a crush on Khuyen, but that was pretty much the only special piece of information that we got. She was otherwise pretty much shielded from the difficulties that the family faced, on account of not being actually part of the family.
Mui generally didn't need a lot to be happy. I think she enjoyed the little things in life, like watching nature, talking to the old man who grushed on Grandmother.
Even ten years later, Mui maintained the same outlook on life, which was a little jarring considering how desolate life had become for the rest of the family. The mistress had become as inactive as the late Grandmother had been, and Mui was not well-liked by the wife of Trung. While I don't think it was inappropriate for Mui to have maintained a similar personality, I felt that she should have changed at least a little bit. Maybe she picked up on some habits as a result of the family falling on hard times. But I dare say her mindset almost remained the same as her child self. Just obeying, and never coming across any difficulties.
When Mui was to leave the household, the mistress gave her gifts as though she were getting married. Mui gave thanks to the mistress, acknowledging that she had become a mother figure to her all those years. We saw that the mistress took it really hard when Mui left, but she had to leave. Again, I felt that if Mui was so integral to the mistress' wellbeing, that we should have seen more of the relationship.
Working at Khuyen's house was a good situation for Mui, especially since she'd always kind of liked him. He was quiet, only caring for playing piano. All Mui had to do was to work around him without disturbing him.
Khuyen came to like Mui, paying attention to her when she was dressing up, and eventually coming to her room at night. That caused a ruckus and Khuyen's fiancee broke off the engagement.
But for Khuyen, it was no problem. He began to teach Mui to read, and later they got together (whether formally or informally), and had a baby.
I can't help but feel like the story is telling us that Mui had happiness come to her because she stayed quiet and obedient. That was how she maintained her happiness at the old house, by just listening to orders and not hoping for too much but appreciation of the everyday. At Khuyen's house, her life work was literally just servicing Khuyen. He focused on his piano while she puttered around him. That was how she drew Khuyen's attention, while the fiancee who asked for his attention got on his nerves, but more on that later.
It just feels a bit like life was happening around Mui, so I guess she just wasn't too compelling of a mian character. I understand that as a servant, there wasn't much she could do, but if that was the case, I would have liked to see more of her thoughts, or even more of her interactions with other people and how they influenced her growing up.
Other Servant
There was another servant, an older lady. I'm not sure if we ever got a name. She was Mui's mentor at the house, teaching her to cook, telling her what to do.
She was kind to Mui, telling her when she'd done good, etc.
Mistress
The mistress was the one holding the house together. Her husband was flighty, prone to running away, and when he did, she would have to shoulder the burden.
The mistress had a small businses selling cloth, and it supported the family when the master gambled all the money away.
We didn't see that many interactions between the mistress and her sons, but she was kind to Mui. When she first met Mui, she told her husband how she reminded her of their lost daughter, which her husband probably didn't want to acknowledge as that was a reminder of his past faults. Otherwise, we saw that even when Mui broke a valuable vase, the mistress wasn't angry with her.
When the husband ran away once again, we saw that the mistress tried to keep a strong face. The grandmother, her mother-in-law, blamed her for not being able to keep the husband happy. And it was her business that brought in money for the family.
When the husband returned and fell ill, the mistress sold everything in the house to pay for treatment, no matter how little they would get from it, but he still passed.
We can assume that that was the beginning of the decline for the family. Ten years later, she became reclusive like her mother-in-law did. Two of her sons had left. Her remaining son Trung was like her late husband, only caring for his instruments. So her only comfort was probably Mui, who would come to her for company and a bit of affection. When Mui was finally let go, we saw the mistress collapse into tears, the most emotion she'd probably shown in a while. And that was the end.
That's kind of what I mean when I say that the first and second half of the movie was too abrupt. Did Mui just completely forget the mistress after she left the house? What happened to the mistress and the house? No clue.
It would not have been as big a problem if this movie didn't only have two parts. But considering it was separated very cleanly into these two parts, it feels like the first half of this movie almost didn't matter.
Master
The master of the house was a quiet man, who we often saw playing music and not doing much else. We were told that he was prone to running away to gamble or to spend money on affairs.
The last time he had run away, his daughter had died, and so he hadn't run away in a while. But we saw him run away yet again.
This time, when he returned, he fell ill. However, in his hands, he still held some of the jewellery, so perhaps the mistress forgave him for leaving her that (Or, he wasn't able to pawn it or use it for gambling. Who knows).
The master did not recover from illness, even though he was given medicine and acupuncturing.
I guess we can attribute the fall of the family to the master. Of course, him running away often weighed heaviliy on the family financially. We saw that the second son was frequently anxious about when his father would be back. As for the youngest son, he too worried about these things. He also lacked somewhat of a disciplinarian, an older role model, I think, which was why he was always pranking Mui.
The older servant said that the master blamed himself for the death of his daughter and that was why he never went anywhere again. If that was the case, why did he run away again this time? Either the servant was mistaken about the situation, or the master saw Mui as a sufficient replacement for the daughter and felt it was okay to run away again. It's a mystery, not necessarily one that even the writer could have given us.
Trung
Trung was the oldest son. We didn't know much about him, just that he had a friend Khuyen.
Ten years later, he was the only son remaining in the house, probably because he was the eldest and was tasked with taking care of his mother. However, we saw that while his wife spoke to him, he just spent his time playing music, just like his father did all those years ago.
History is probably destined to repeat itself. He seemed to be as unmotivated as his father, and the family will likely finally fall in his hands.
Lam
Lam was the middle son, who was close in age to Mui. We saw him reading a lot, and he would sometimes torture ants with wax.
He was prone to running away and hiding when his father was gone to show his frustration for his missing father. Obviously he did care for him a lot.
After the time skip, we found out that Lam had moved out because he needed space to write (maybe he was a writer). The mistress had said that she had always hoped that Lam would take Mui as a wife, probably since they were similar in age. However, we barely ever saw Lam and Mui interact. This would have been a more compelling line of dialogue if we had ever seen what their dynamic was, whether good or bad.
Tin
Tin was the youngest son of the family. Curious and talkative, and always causing trouble. He was very attached to his father.
Tin would mess with Mui a lot, tipping over her water bucket when she was cleaning the floor, pulling down the laundry she'd hung up, peeing in the vases, scaring her with lizards, etc. Somehow he was never disciplined. Maybe the mistress never had time. Maybe the master used to do it.
When the master had gone, we saw Tin crying, but the mistress didn't really have any effective way of comforting him.
After the time skip, it appears that Tin had also left the house.
Grandmother
Grandmother was the master's mother. Her husband had passed a few years after the master had been born. Ever since, she had become a reclusive devout, praying all day. She never left her room.
When the master left again, she blamed her daughter-in-law for not being able to keep him happy.
Thuan
Thuan was a man who would come by and ask Mui how the grandmother was doing. Mui found out that Thuan had been in love with grandmother for many years. However, he was shy about meeting her.
One day, Mui snuck Thuan in to the house so that he could see Grandmother. She never saw him, he only watched her as she prayed.
Khuyen
Khuyen was a friend of Trung's. We didn't know anything about him when we first met him, only that Mui fancied him.
We didn't meet him again until Mui was sent to work at Khuyen's house. We found out he was a pianist. He had a fiancee who was fun-loving. On the other hand, we saw that he enjoyed playing piano while Mui puttered around him doing her own thing (which was serving him).
Khuyen became interested in Mui, leaving her pictures of her and giving her gifts of lipstick. Mui was shy, but he would approach her, mostly just looking at her. Eventually, they became intimate, though to what degree we don't know. The fiancee found out and broke off the engagement.
However, Khuyen didn't seem bothered. He began to teach Mui to read, presumably so that she could be his equal partner. He spent a lot of effort in teaching her, showing his devotion to her. And at the end of the movie, they were on their way to being a little family.
Fiancee
Khuyen's fiancee was extremely fun-loving. She liked going out and having fun. She was always trying to distract Khuyen while he played piano, getting his attention so that they could go out together.
One day, the fiancee spied on Khuyen after she left the house. She saw that he would play peacefully while Mui was puttering about, and I guess she became heartbroken. I'm not sure what she found out about Mui and Khuyen's relationship, but it was probably something that crossed the line into romantic relations. The fiancee made a big fuss and then broke off the engagement.
Themes
I think that the movie wanted us to see Mui as a simple-hearted girl who grew into a simple-hearted woman. While life around her was tough, she maintained an optimistic mindset, being happy with her life, and eventually, happiness would come to her. Actual execution didn't give this effect though, unfortunately.
Overall
I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I'd like.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie followed Mui, a servant girl. From a young age, she worked for a family with three sons. The father was prone to running away for affairs and gambling. There was a grandmother who never left her room, just praying all day. The family once had a daughter who would have been the same age as Mui, but had died 7 years prior. The mistress of the house was kind to Mui, though obviously she struggled to keep the family together.
The father ran away once again, and this time when he returned, he fell ill, dying soon after.
Mui stayed with the family for ten years, after which the family fell deeper into poverty. The mistress finally let go of Mui, sending her to work for a wealthy friend of the eldest son's, whom Mui had always kind of had a crush on. When she left, the mistress gave her a dress and some jewellery, things she would have given her own daughter when she left home.
Mui worked peacefully at the home of Khuyen, whom was a pianist. He had a fiancee who was more concerned with going out and having fun. It was implied that Khuyen one night had intimate relations with Mui. The fiancee found out and broke off the engagement.
Khuyen later on began to teach Mui to read, and at the end of the movie, a pregnant Mui read to Khuyen.
With the way the movie went, I would say it was supposed to follow Mui's life to happiness. However, I felt that the two parts of the movies were not cohesive.
Given the big family we were introduced to in the first half of the movie, there was a lot of potential for plot and character development for Mui. But we never got much more than the fact that the mistress was kind to Mui, and that the youngest son Tin was always playing pranks on Mui. Also, Mui struck up a friendship with Mr. Thuan and helped him see grandmother once. But none of this shaped Mui.
Considering Mui would go on to live in Khuyen's household, perhaps we could have seen more of Mui's crush on Khuyen (which we had only seen very briefly at the beginning), turning this into a romance.
How did the collapse of the family affect Mui, if she stayed with the family for 10 years and maintained a smiling face? Did the mistress treat Mui as a daughter in ways other than not yelling at her and sometimes patting her head? The mistress had hoped that Lam would take on Mui as a wife (as they were similar in age). But we never got any interaction between them, so that almost came out of nowhere.
I felt that the story opened with too much and did not do anything with it. I didn't feel that Mui grew at all. Even 10 years later, she was the same little girl, with no wants, ambitions, or personality other than being silent.
Production
I found out on Wikipedia that this movie was filmed entirely in a set. It was a little noticeable when we saw shots on the street, but I couldn't tell in the scenes within the house, so the lighting was pretty good in that way.
I didn't think the acting was very good, to be honest. I think the best actor was probably the mistress. Otherwise, most of the characters were very wooden, and it was most noticeable with the young adult characters like Khuyen, Trung, and even an adult Mui.
Characters
Mui
Mui was our main character, sent to work with this family at a young age. She was a good kid, who did what she was told and never caused any trouble. Even when she did get into trouble, we usually saw that it was Tin playing pranks on her, and that the mistress was generally lenient on her, probably because she saw Mui as somewhat of a replacement for her own lost daughter.
Mui had a mother and a sister back home, but her father had died three years ago. Unfortunately, probably not an unusual story. The mistress was kind and allowed her to see her mother in three months' time. But we saw that over time, Mui came to see the mistress as her own mother too.
Mui had a crush on Khuyen, but that was pretty much the only special piece of information that we got. She was otherwise pretty much shielded from the difficulties that the family faced, on account of not being actually part of the family.
Mui generally didn't need a lot to be happy. I think she enjoyed the little things in life, like watching nature, talking to the old man who grushed on Grandmother.
Even ten years later, Mui maintained the same outlook on life, which was a little jarring considering how desolate life had become for the rest of the family. The mistress had become as inactive as the late Grandmother had been, and Mui was not well-liked by the wife of Trung. While I don't think it was inappropriate for Mui to have maintained a similar personality, I felt that she should have changed at least a little bit. Maybe she picked up on some habits as a result of the family falling on hard times. But I dare say her mindset almost remained the same as her child self. Just obeying, and never coming across any difficulties.
When Mui was to leave the household, the mistress gave her gifts as though she were getting married. Mui gave thanks to the mistress, acknowledging that she had become a mother figure to her all those years. We saw that the mistress took it really hard when Mui left, but she had to leave. Again, I felt that if Mui was so integral to the mistress' wellbeing, that we should have seen more of the relationship.
Working at Khuyen's house was a good situation for Mui, especially since she'd always kind of liked him. He was quiet, only caring for playing piano. All Mui had to do was to work around him without disturbing him.
Khuyen came to like Mui, paying attention to her when she was dressing up, and eventually coming to her room at night. That caused a ruckus and Khuyen's fiancee broke off the engagement.
But for Khuyen, it was no problem. He began to teach Mui to read, and later they got together (whether formally or informally), and had a baby.
I can't help but feel like the story is telling us that Mui had happiness come to her because she stayed quiet and obedient. That was how she maintained her happiness at the old house, by just listening to orders and not hoping for too much but appreciation of the everyday. At Khuyen's house, her life work was literally just servicing Khuyen. He focused on his piano while she puttered around him. That was how she drew Khuyen's attention, while the fiancee who asked for his attention got on his nerves, but more on that later.
It just feels a bit like life was happening around Mui, so I guess she just wasn't too compelling of a mian character. I understand that as a servant, there wasn't much she could do, but if that was the case, I would have liked to see more of her thoughts, or even more of her interactions with other people and how they influenced her growing up.
Other Servant
There was another servant, an older lady. I'm not sure if we ever got a name. She was Mui's mentor at the house, teaching her to cook, telling her what to do.
She was kind to Mui, telling her when she'd done good, etc.
Mistress
The mistress was the one holding the house together. Her husband was flighty, prone to running away, and when he did, she would have to shoulder the burden.
The mistress had a small businses selling cloth, and it supported the family when the master gambled all the money away.
We didn't see that many interactions between the mistress and her sons, but she was kind to Mui. When she first met Mui, she told her husband how she reminded her of their lost daughter, which her husband probably didn't want to acknowledge as that was a reminder of his past faults. Otherwise, we saw that even when Mui broke a valuable vase, the mistress wasn't angry with her.
When the husband ran away once again, we saw that the mistress tried to keep a strong face. The grandmother, her mother-in-law, blamed her for not being able to keep the husband happy. And it was her business that brought in money for the family.
When the husband returned and fell ill, the mistress sold everything in the house to pay for treatment, no matter how little they would get from it, but he still passed.
We can assume that that was the beginning of the decline for the family. Ten years later, she became reclusive like her mother-in-law did. Two of her sons had left. Her remaining son Trung was like her late husband, only caring for his instruments. So her only comfort was probably Mui, who would come to her for company and a bit of affection. When Mui was finally let go, we saw the mistress collapse into tears, the most emotion she'd probably shown in a while. And that was the end.
That's kind of what I mean when I say that the first and second half of the movie was too abrupt. Did Mui just completely forget the mistress after she left the house? What happened to the mistress and the house? No clue.
It would not have been as big a problem if this movie didn't only have two parts. But considering it was separated very cleanly into these two parts, it feels like the first half of this movie almost didn't matter.
Master
The master of the house was a quiet man, who we often saw playing music and not doing much else. We were told that he was prone to running away to gamble or to spend money on affairs.
The last time he had run away, his daughter had died, and so he hadn't run away in a while. But we saw him run away yet again.
This time, when he returned, he fell ill. However, in his hands, he still held some of the jewellery, so perhaps the mistress forgave him for leaving her that (Or, he wasn't able to pawn it or use it for gambling. Who knows).
The master did not recover from illness, even though he was given medicine and acupuncturing.
I guess we can attribute the fall of the family to the master. Of course, him running away often weighed heaviliy on the family financially. We saw that the second son was frequently anxious about when his father would be back. As for the youngest son, he too worried about these things. He also lacked somewhat of a disciplinarian, an older role model, I think, which was why he was always pranking Mui.
The older servant said that the master blamed himself for the death of his daughter and that was why he never went anywhere again. If that was the case, why did he run away again this time? Either the servant was mistaken about the situation, or the master saw Mui as a sufficient replacement for the daughter and felt it was okay to run away again. It's a mystery, not necessarily one that even the writer could have given us.
Trung
Trung was the oldest son. We didn't know much about him, just that he had a friend Khuyen.
Ten years later, he was the only son remaining in the house, probably because he was the eldest and was tasked with taking care of his mother. However, we saw that while his wife spoke to him, he just spent his time playing music, just like his father did all those years ago.
History is probably destined to repeat itself. He seemed to be as unmotivated as his father, and the family will likely finally fall in his hands.
Lam
Lam was the middle son, who was close in age to Mui. We saw him reading a lot, and he would sometimes torture ants with wax.
He was prone to running away and hiding when his father was gone to show his frustration for his missing father. Obviously he did care for him a lot.
After the time skip, we found out that Lam had moved out because he needed space to write (maybe he was a writer). The mistress had said that she had always hoped that Lam would take Mui as a wife, probably since they were similar in age. However, we barely ever saw Lam and Mui interact. This would have been a more compelling line of dialogue if we had ever seen what their dynamic was, whether good or bad.
Tin
Tin was the youngest son of the family. Curious and talkative, and always causing trouble. He was very attached to his father.
Tin would mess with Mui a lot, tipping over her water bucket when she was cleaning the floor, pulling down the laundry she'd hung up, peeing in the vases, scaring her with lizards, etc. Somehow he was never disciplined. Maybe the mistress never had time. Maybe the master used to do it.
When the master had gone, we saw Tin crying, but the mistress didn't really have any effective way of comforting him.
After the time skip, it appears that Tin had also left the house.
Grandmother
Grandmother was the master's mother. Her husband had passed a few years after the master had been born. Ever since, she had become a reclusive devout, praying all day. She never left her room.
When the master left again, she blamed her daughter-in-law for not being able to keep him happy.
Thuan
Thuan was a man who would come by and ask Mui how the grandmother was doing. Mui found out that Thuan had been in love with grandmother for many years. However, he was shy about meeting her.
One day, Mui snuck Thuan in to the house so that he could see Grandmother. She never saw him, he only watched her as she prayed.
Khuyen
Khuyen was a friend of Trung's. We didn't know anything about him when we first met him, only that Mui fancied him.
We didn't meet him again until Mui was sent to work at Khuyen's house. We found out he was a pianist. He had a fiancee who was fun-loving. On the other hand, we saw that he enjoyed playing piano while Mui puttered around him doing her own thing (which was serving him).
Khuyen became interested in Mui, leaving her pictures of her and giving her gifts of lipstick. Mui was shy, but he would approach her, mostly just looking at her. Eventually, they became intimate, though to what degree we don't know. The fiancee found out and broke off the engagement.
However, Khuyen didn't seem bothered. He began to teach Mui to read, presumably so that she could be his equal partner. He spent a lot of effort in teaching her, showing his devotion to her. And at the end of the movie, they were on their way to being a little family.
Fiancee
Khuyen's fiancee was extremely fun-loving. She liked going out and having fun. She was always trying to distract Khuyen while he played piano, getting his attention so that they could go out together.
One day, the fiancee spied on Khuyen after she left the house. She saw that he would play peacefully while Mui was puttering about, and I guess she became heartbroken. I'm not sure what she found out about Mui and Khuyen's relationship, but it was probably something that crossed the line into romantic relations. The fiancee made a big fuss and then broke off the engagement.
Themes
I think that the movie wanted us to see Mui as a simple-hearted girl who grew into a simple-hearted woman. While life around her was tough, she maintained an optimistic mindset, being happy with her life, and eventually, happiness would come to her. Actual execution didn't give this effect though, unfortunately.
Overall
I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I'd like.