Critic Rating
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Director
Tran Anh Hung
Cast
Trần Nữ Yên Khê,
Man San Lu,
Thi Loc Truong,
Nguyen Anh Hoa,
Hoa Hoi Vuong,
Ngoc Trung Tran
Genre
Drama,
Romance
Mui, an orphan girl, is taken in by a merchant family in Saigon to be their servant. Growing up, she witnesses all the family's darkest secrets, but never loses her sense of wonder. Ten years later, Mui now works for the soon-to-be-married son of the family, but their relationship is growing into something more.
This film is so tranquil and wondrous. The Scent of Green Papaya will surely be a refreshing escape from the restless haste of modernity, allowing you to experience life in a very different time. Mui is a wonderfully captivating protagonist-- you just can't help but fall in love with the world a little more when you can see it through her eyes.
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
Anyone who thinks nothing is happening in The Scent of Green Papaya-in the absence of car chases, rapes, gunfights and whatever else we may now demand from our entertainment-is obviously not paying attention. [11 Mar 1994, p.D]
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Here is a film so placid and filled with sweetness that watching it is like listening to soothing music.
San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson
A movie to savor.
The Seattle Times by Jeff Shannon
As its title suggests, it plays not only on sight - with masterfully composed images that glisten with the timeless quality of memory - but smell, touch, taste and sound are all equally well utilized, to establish the kind of serenity that has become all but extinct in movies today. [04 Feb 1994, p.D3]
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
The Scent of Green Papaya, a film as delicate and evocative as its name, recognizes that out of illusion can come reality.
Boston Globe by Jay Carr
The Scent of Green Papaya is an astonishingly rich evocation of maternal energies and gestures, expressed in lovingly lingered-on images. [25 Feb 1994, p.47]
The New York Times by Janet Maslin
The Scent of the Green Papaya marks a luxuriant, visually seductive debut for Mr. Hung, whose film is often so wordlessly evocative that it barely needs dialogue. Reaching into the past for its precisely drawn memories, it casts a rich, delicate spell.
The Observer (UK) by Staff (Not Credited)
The boldness of this remarkable feature film debut resides in its reticence, and we experience the world through a special sensibility. [03 Apr 1994, p.5]
Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)
The movie's poetic-realist design meshes detailed, patient observation and delectable, poignant travelling shots; it grounds us in the quotidian duties of service and dissects contemporary Vietnamese social hierarchies, yet adds up to something much more subtle and enticing: a lyrical portrait of the human spirit in work and in love. Exquisitely controlled.
TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)
As an evocation of things past, THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA is a remarkable and modestly enchanting film.
Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten
Lush, succulent, verdant, aromatic. These are the kind of words that come to mind when describing this new Vietnamese film, a film dominated by textures rather than plot.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
The main focus is on everyday household chores and sensual discoveries, all made mesmerizing by elaborately choreographed camera movements that link interiors and exteriors in the same fluid itineraries.
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Scent is a captured memory, a living, breathing reverie rather than a narrative. It's also the birth of a great talent.
San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Stack
Delicately flavored as much by the inherent appeal of its classic Cinderella-like story as by its pictorial beauty, The Scent of Green Papaya is a lovely experience in the dreamily exotic.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
The Scent of Green Papaya is made all the more enchanting by its simplicity.
Washington Post by Hal Hinson
At first, the movie's restraint is enticing, and even soothing. By the end, though, Tran's strategies have an enervating, numbing effect. The same methods he uses to pull us in finally kill our interest.
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