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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
'Watching it is like seeing a poem for the eyes.' That's how Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert described this exquisite, Oscar-nominated, French-Vietnamese film from 1993, which begins in the 1950s and ends more than a decade later during the early years of the Vietnam war. The story is set almost entirely in a Saigon house where a 10-year-old orphan girl named Mui arrives to work as a servant. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Mui is quietly and carefully observant of everything around her, from the scent of green papaya (hence the title) to the relationship between her employers. The film takes its visual cues from Mui's observations--it's a placid, soothing film that lingers over the physical and emotional details of its setting and story.
What's really astonishing about this beautiful film is that director Anh Tran Hung shot it entirely on a soundstage in Paris, but the sights and sounds are so completely convincing that you'd swear the setting is an actual home in Saigon. This remarkable craftsmanship remains invisible to the viewer, and the seductive progression of the story unfolds with exacting visual precision. It's a film about Mui's growth and development, but also about her benevolent effect on the world around her. As such, it's a movie to savor like no other, life affirming and glorious in the memorable depth of its captivating simplicity. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A quiet, meditative film
This beautiful film may not be for everyone, but it's quiet attention to the details of home life, indoors and out, through the eyes of a young girl starting work in a household in 1951 Vietnam, and then the young adult girl 10 years later, is somehow sublime. The beauty of the setting, the sheer humanity of the people portrayed, and the girl's state of consciousness, for want of a better way to put it, add up to a fascinating experience. Some call it a Vietnamese Cinderella. It's that and more. ... Read More
Rating: - Please bring this movie back out on DVD
Used to have this on VHS (probably needed a new copy even then as I watched it so much) and have waited to see it return to DVD as I didn't buy it in time before it went out of print in DVD. It is a splendid, haunting, hyper-realistic film and deserves a huge following. I'm not Vietnamese but can't see that one needs to be to recognize that this film is a hit you will not forget and will want to see repeatedly. I can't believe it wouldn't sell well so print it again and let's have more high quality ... Read More
Rating:  - A Buddhist Cinderella?
I beg to differ from those who rated this movie 5 stars. There's no doubt that this movie is beautifully filmed and produced. The sight, the sound and the implied scent of nature produce an astounding mix. It is a feast to our senses. But film is ultimately compromised by a lack of dialogue and dramatic content. I guess one can argue that the film is self-contained within the director's minimalist framework. But there's a big gap in our suspense of disbelief to have the young master to stumble upon his ... Read More
Rating: - Super Movie! Beautiful, Dreamy, Sensual, Sad, and Funny
This is a fantastic film. Unlike many Asian films, it has a plot and characters that are understandable. The cinematography is superb. The director's wife stars in this movie (as the grownup Mui) as well as in Cyclo, and Vertical Ray of the Sun. It is hard to take your eyes off her. The little girl who plays Mui as a child is terrific as well. Little Tin is funny when he tries to torment little Mui. My wife is Vietnamese and I recognize the family structure where the father (and other men) mostly does what ... Read More
Rating: - Sensitive Portrayal of Unexpected Love
This film captures beautiful images as seen by the naked eye when the camera hones in on such natural wonders as a frog on a large green leaf, an ant carrrying a crumb or a papaya tree with green ripening fruit located outside one's window. Or when the camera scans the the interior of the home and captures oriental lattice work on a porch railing or a screen wall divider or porcelain vases on a credence. These images are impressed both on the viewer and on the mind of Mui, a nine year old Vietnamese girl from ... Read More
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