Duften av grønn papaya om morgenen
Duften av grønn papaya om morgenen — a film set in Saigon in 1951
An almost painfully beautiful film.
The sensitivity to lighting, the hushed atmosphere, the extremely spare dialogue and the lingering narrative style make Duften av grønn papaya om morgenen a cinematic delicacy of the rarest kind. The film won two prizes at Cannes and drew an unexpectedly large audience when it was released in cinemas here in Norway.
Ten-year-old Mùi begins working as a servant girl for a wealthy family in Saigon in 1951. An older servant tells her that the oppressive mood in the house stems from the recent death of the family’s daughter, who would have been the same age as Mùi. As a result, the grandmother has withdrawn completely, the father has disappeared, and Mùi becomes the household children’s scapegoat. Only the lady of the house sees Mùi as a kind of replacement for her lost daughter. When the servant girl leaves the family ten years later, she is given jewelry and a dress that had been intended for the deceased girl.
Duften av grønn papaya om morgenen is an astonishingly rich evocation of maternal energies and gestures, expressed in lovingly lingered-on images.
Boston Globe
A film as delicate and evocative as its name.
Los Angeles Times
