1950s Saigon through the eyes of Mui, a Vietnamese servant girl. At 10 years-old, Mui leaves her village to work for an affluent, troubled family. As she comes of age, Mui finds work in the household of a pianist she has admired since childhood, and finds their relationship growing in complexity.
O Cheiro do Papaia Verde, Duften av grønn papaya om morgenen, To aroma tis prasinis papagias, El aroma de la papaya verde, Аромат на зелена папая, Duften af den grønne papaja, Mùi du du xanh, Vihreän papaijan tuoksu, L'Odeur de la papaye verte, Der Duft der grünen Papaya, A zöld papaya illata, Il profumo della papaya verde, 青いパパイヤの香り, Žaliųjų papajų aromatas, De geur van de groene papaya, Zapach zielonej papai, O Cheiro a Papaya Verde, O Odor da Papaia Verde, Аромат зеленой папайи, El olor de la papaya verde, Doften av grön papaya, 青木瓜的滋味, Yeşil papayanın kokusu, 青木瓜之味, ניחוח הפאפאיה הירוקה, Mùi Du Du Xanh, Yeşil Papaya'nın Kokusu, 그린 파파야 향기, Mirosul de papaya verde, Mùi Đu Đủ Xanh, Το άρωμα της πράσινης παπάγιας, Vůně zelené papáje, O Cheiro Do Papaia Verde
Czechia15+ 
FranceTP 
SpainA 
Netherlands 
South Korea12 
USANR 
UKU USA 
Germany6 Czechia France Germany Netherlands South Korea Spain UK USA 
Nothing happens, but it happens beautifully. Unless you're an ant: then you're fucked.
There is something very calming and poetic about this. Nothing much happens and not much is said, but it works wonderfully. The colours, the beautiful shots, the slow pace, the sound of food being prepared really soothe your mind. The last part is also incredibly sensual and enthralling. I'll definitely return to this whenever I feel particularly anxious or in need of something peaceful and gentle. It's a perfect film to watch on a warm August night.
The Scent of Green Papaya is such a hard film to describe and even more difficult to prepare oneself for pre-viewing. The reason is that as the film begins, expectations begin to take hold that this is to be a traditional narrative story set in Vietnam but as the film goes on it becomes quite apparent that that is not the case. The film is virtually plotless and I wish someone would have told me that beforehand because my reaction to the first half of the film was more along the lines of frustration or confusion. The lack of story present made it seem as though I must have been missing some integral part of the plot when it just…
green is the warmest colour
gorgeous beyond belief, but what’s it all for?
mui has zero interiority. just a good little servant who evolves into a good little house wife and never speaks a word. literally scrubbing shoes with a huge grin. has nothing to say about the labor on display or the people who define her existence by demanding it. the whole thing just feels hollow, and very french. read enough ho chi minh and you’ll learn to dislike that.
Man...the first half of this, I was gearing up for it to become a new favorite. Then there’s a major time jump in the second half and it became less compelling. It goes from a family drama to essentially a romance story and I just didn’t feel the emotion there. I actually think this could’ve benefited from being a bit longer and more fleshed out.
That being said, this movie has the best depiction of the five senses I’ve seen on screen. It has a very deliberate style aided by very careful, dynamic camera movement, an immersive score and sound design, and lots and lots of close-ups. If you are a vegetable, an ant or a frog, then you’re the star of the show here. This film has such a compelling environment but wish the story was just as gripping. It’s almost like A Brighter Summer Day meets Roma.
You ate papaya but you have never tried to noticed closely how it's smell. You have seen many women, but you never seen them closely how beautiful they look when they take shower. The sound of birds chirping, the beauty of garden, the sound of food being prepared, the sound of raindrops... I have never felt before instead of searching beauty i can actually find beauty just by everything im surrounded.
In this Vietnamese classic nothing actually happened. A plotless beauty. A coming of age story of a beautiful girl Mui takes us to a journey where beauty meets gentle & calmness. The loss, grief of human in first half & later part finding redemption, looking for a warm place to find peace.
From the very first moment till last every frame just extracted nothing but sheer beauty. This film is so gentle, soothing, a pure pleasure to eye.
Burning incense. Intense rain. Frogs hopping around. Lizards crawling into vases. An ant lifting a sugar cube. Clair de Lune playing. Applying lipstick. It’s the kind of film that appreciates the tiniest moments in life. An alluring sensory experience with a story marked by simplicity at the center that works harmoniously with the poetic language of the film.
One room can contain an entire universe.
This was such a vivid sensory experience. Every sense is constantly evoked—the food, the house and garden's soundscapes, those rich and luscious greens, the warmth of a touch, the coolness of water on the skin.
I preferred the first half, seemingly more aimless, or less plot-oriented, where we just followed a 10 year-old Mui in her day-to-day life and the family she war serving. The way she observed her environment, nature, other people, the details she would notice and the boundless empathy she had for them. There's a contrasting moment between two characters that reveals all that differentiates Mui from others—her gender, her class, but also the way she views the world. She sees an ant carrying a crumb of…
God I love being vietnamese... absolutely beautiful and even though I have only one vietnamese parent and was born and raised in the US an intense feeling of nostalgia was with me throughout - so many specific memories came flooding back to me. While as a mixed Vietnamese-American gay guy it will probably be impossible for me to find a film I can perfectly identify with, this came very close and I found myself crying without having any clue why. I really need to watch more vietnamese films and I will probably work through Trần Anh Hùng's filmography to ease into it. This will likely end up in my top 30
...also the dad was hot even though he was an asshole
Some flowers can bloom in any conditions.
