The Third Wife

A girl in 19th Century Viet Nam.

Lots of symbols to decipher and hidden lessons to be learnt here but I guess there're too many for my tastes: if I try hard and still can't make sense of something - it's the author's fault.

This said, the film is beautifully written, shot, acted and produced (while misteriously antiseptic and eerie in the music, scenography, palette and fauna depicted).

Unfortunately the value of a movie is what I get out of it and it wasn't much: women's life in a place, at a time, in specific socio-economic circumstances (something for which history books are far better); less than a dozen of artistically worthy scenes and a bit of boredom.

A very impressive debut from the director. Well deserving of the Golden Hugo. Though the end was ethically very disturbing for me, the film was consistent in its visual and aural appeal throughout, especially the end sequence. A director to watch. A very good choice of actresses.

Vietnam is presented as a heavenly tropical country in the 19th century, without insects or reptiles (a lizard is the only exception) even in bamboo groves, with washed linen hung out white as snow. One would wish more realism to match the time frame of the story.

Why was this film not Vietnam's Oscar submission for 2019 in the Foreign Language Film category? I guess there were technical reasons.

Period Vietnamese film with little talking and loads of imagery that probably means something to oriental people. Good cinematography but it feels like a lot has been edited out, so a little disjointed.

In the opening scene of the movie, it is mentioned that the movie is based on true events, but it was not told on whom it is based. So, it is really hard to believe those claims. The cinematography is beautiful, but the story is so complicated that it is hard to believe that it could be based on true events. It feels as if all the known social taboos are depicted in one joint family. The movie comments on child marriage, multiple wives, teen pregnancy, lack of healthcare, pressure on wife for birthing male child, extra-marital affair, incest, social status, dowry, marriage consummation pressure, suicide, female infanticide, etc. Etc. There is no lack of content in the movie, yet the progression feels slow because of less dialogues and multiple scenes of inanimate objects. I liked it for this very reason.

This is well shot and very pretty with glorious distant vistas and plant and insect close-ups. The pace is slow and although the depiction of 19th century Vietnamese rural life picturesque enough there is an awfulness here from start to finish. Unfortunately we are too familiar with tales from China and the Far East and Asia generally even today of the problems caused by favouring the birth of boys over girls to be particularly surprised by the extent of the awfulness depicted here. Yes, it is dreadful but this seems almost prurient in its constant close-ups of very young girls being displayed for very old men and that despite everything, the torture, the killing and the suicides that all is for the best. Beautiful but harrowing.