Scent of the Green Papaya is a languid film that immerses the viewer in the sights and mores of what seems like 1950s Vietnam.
Its story is pretty simple; a young girl comes to work as a servant in a household. She is quiet, observant and diligent. The wife treats the girl like the daughter she has lost, not so the rest of the house. The family falls on hard times, the girl – now grown up – goes to work at another place. She falls in love with her employer and has his child. And learns to read.
It’s a quiet film, some people would call it a film that is imbued with Buddhist philosophy. Surprisingly it has a fair few nasty undertones (also found in
Cyclo and Vertical Ray), maybe all the better to underline the proverbial lotus in the mud. Some of its scenes are also reminiscent of old Hindi films i.e. the dutiful, unhappy wife, the wastrel husband, the cruel mother-in-law, the goodness of a servant, a sort of vanished way of life. It is not a perfect movie, nevertheless it is such a tranquil, calming film that I watch bits and pieces now and then, particularly its scenes of water in domestic life. Part of its appeal is that it so expertly recreates the natural world with which the young girl has an affinity – even more astonishing if you think that it’s not shot on location but on a set in France.
Scent of the Green Papaya is a languid film that immerses the viewer in the sights and mores of what seems like 1950s Vietnam.
Its story is pretty simple; a young girl comes to work as a servant in a household. She is quiet, observant and diligent. The wife treats the girl like the daughter she has lost, not so the rest of the house. The family falls on hard times, the girl – now grown up – goes to work at another place. She falls in love with her employer and has his child. And learns to read. 
It’s a quiet film, some people would call it a film that is imbued with Buddhist philosophy. Surprisingly it has a fair few nasty undertones (also found in Cyclo and Vertical Ray), maybe all the better to underline the proverbial lotus in the mud. Some of its scenes are also reminiscent of old Hindi films i.e. the dutiful, unhappy wife, the wastrel husband, the cruel mother-in-law, the goodness of a servant, a sort of vanished way of life. It is not a perfect movie, nevertheless it is such a tranquil, calming film that I watch bits and pieces now and then, particularly its scenes of water in domestic life. Part of its appeal is that it so expertly recreates the natural world with which the young girl has an affinity – even more astonishing if you think that it’s not shot on location but on a set in France.
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