Sweet but not quite savoury

ISLAMABAD: Dialogue is but an afterthought in director Tran Anh Hung’s Oscar-nominated debut. And it is evident from the moment characters open their mouths to say something. Their words detract from the wonderful and meticulously orchestrated visual painting that Hung has crafted in his The Scent of Green Papaya.

The French-funded film played at South Asian Media Centre at 5pm on Friday. The screening, a weekly event open to all, was attended by professors, journalists and other prominent members of the society.

The Vietnamese story centres itself around Mui, a 10-year-old servant who comes to serve a rich family consisting of a grandmother, a husband, his wife and their three children. Of particular importance to Mui’s story is the mistress of the house, who finds in Mui a replacement for her dead daughter.

She eventually grows to look to Mui as her own. And then there’s the youngest son, a mischievous little devil, who takes it upon himself to make Mui’s life harder as she goes about her daily chores.

Hung makes use of effective contrasts throughout his film. The unfaithful husband takes the entire household’s money one day. He falls ill on his return and dies, bringing ruin to the family and eventually forcing Mui, some ten years later, to leave for a richer household. By contrast, another act of unfaithfulness paves Mui’s way towards her happy ending. Then there are scenes where Hung captures the servants and their masters in the same frame, both going about their own trivial pursuits- inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. The simplicity of the actions of his characters lends an air of authenticity to his world.

Hung’s camera pry’s into the lives of these individuals from afar, reluctant to get closer to them. It might even be a substitute for our eyes, as we stand outside the house peeping into their personal matters. The slow pace at which the events unfold gives the illusion of reality. The film is styled in the fashion of realist cinema and is reminiscent of Satyajit Ray’s Pathar Panchali.

However, erected on a soundstage in France, the film’s sets are crafted a tad bit too meticulously. The stilted dialogues are sparse, even less so than in real life, and serve to detract from the experience.

Moreover the clarity of the sound itself, with the background noise kept to a minimum, serves to remind us that this is not reality that we are seeing. All these shortcomings hold the movie from reaching its true potential.

The Scent of Green Papaya might be sweet but its taste is not quite savoury.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2010.