The Scent of Green Papaya

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. The film won the Caméra d'Or prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, a César Award for Best Debut at the French annual film award ceremony, and was nominated for the 1993 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was Tran Anh Hung's first feature film and stars his wife, Tran Nu Yên-Khê. It is also his first collaboration with Vietnamese composer Tôn-Thât Tiêt who subsequently wrote the music for two more films: Cyclo and Vertical Ray of the Sun. 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 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 business. 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.