THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 7.7
Date Released: 2/94 Running Length: 1:45 Rated: No MPAA Rating (Nothing offensive)
Starring: Lu Man San, Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Truong Thi Loc, Vuong Hoa Hoi,
Nguyen Anh Hoa
Director: Tran Anh Hung
Producer: Christophe Rossignon
Screenplay: Tran Anh Hung
Music: Ton-That Tiet
Released by First Look Pictures Releasing
In Vietnamese with subtitles
"The scent of green papaya is a personal childhood memory. Everyone [in Vietnam] knew the gestures associated with the preparation of the papaya and, since the houses weren't soundproofed, you often heard it being prepared in the house next door. You knew the sound because the papaya is hollow and when you hit it (with a knife), it makes a very characteristic noise. The papaya was really a part of everyday Vietnamese life. Since the green papaya was a vegetable prepared by women, it immediately becomes a symbol of women's work." - Writer/director Tran Anh Hung
Most films rely on plot, character, and action to tell their story, but there are rare exceptions, one of which is THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA, the deceptively simple tale of two periods in the life of a Vietnamese girl named Mui (Lu Man San at age ten; Tran Nu Yen-Khe at age twenty). Relying more on tone and feel, THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA manages to engross an audience because of its scrupulous attention to detail and its ability to effectively capture the essence of life's subtle, individual moments.
To say that THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA has no plot would be to grossly misrepresent it. The movie is divided into two sections. The first, which takes place in 1951, details Mui's arrival as a young girl at the house where she will spend the next ten years of her life working as a servant. Midway through the film, the time frame shifts ahead a decade. Now Mui is working for Khuyen (Vuong Hoa Hoi), a music composer, and this portion of the story focuses on what transpires during this portion of Mui's life.
THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA succeeds because writer/director Tran Anh Hung has an almost-perfect sense of what is necessary to make a simple story work. There are no grand revelations or surprising plot twists, but the film is compelling nevertheless, precisely because of its sense of reality. What other recent film has made the act of giving a cooking lesson such a potentially-intriguing activity?
The effectiveness of THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA is surprising considering its visual limits. Filmed on France sound stages rather than on-location in Vietnam, there is none of the expected lush vegetation one has come to expect from a film set in this country. Even the papaya trees are dead husks with real fruit and leaves glued to them (although it's not possible to tell this from watching the movie). On the other hand, the use of sound effects is excellent, from the chirping of a cricket to the roar of a plane overhead. In a film with so little dialogue (there is a space of thirty minutes where only several lines are uttered), music and sound effects become critical contributors.
The acting is adequate--no more and no less, but because THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA focuses more on moments than characters, this isn't a serious detriment. Lu Man San, as Mui at ten years old, is cute and impish, with a commendable variety of facial expressions. Her successor, Tran Nu Yen-Khe (the director's real-life fiancee) isn't as impressive. She smiles too much and possesses an almost-sinuously graceful body language that seems inappropriate to the circumstances.
What THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA does so well is to show the everyday life of a culture that has been bombed into history. This is the kind of motion picture that could easily become tedious and boring, because so little happens. To manage what Tran Anh Hung has by telling his story and holding the interest of the audience, deserves notice and credit. THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA is an enjoyable experience made all the more enchanting by its simplicity.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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