The post-colonial culture embodied in Taste of Green Papaya comes from France.

The Taste of Green Papaya is a drama film directed by Hero Tran and starring Nguyen Nhu Quynh, Tran Nguyen Yen Xi, and Hoa Hoi Vuong. The movie focuses on a young girl, May's upbringing, and follows her life situation in two successive family environments. The film was released on June 8, 1993 in France.

Synopsis

1. At the age of 10, a young girl, Mei, comes to the city to work as a maid in a large family, where the master is a folk musician, who often leaves the house without taking all the family's belongings with him, and the wife takes charge of the household. Mrs. Mei had a daughter who died in a serious illness, and Mei looked very much like the dead young lady, so she was very much loved by her young grandmother.

2. When the young master stole all of the family's savings, Mrs. Mei could not support the family's expenses and began to sell the family's assets, relying on weaving and selling yarn to make ends meet. As time goes by, Mei has become a young woman, and the family no longer needs her. She was sent to work as a maid in the house of a musician, Mr. Hao Min.

3. Hao Min's fiancée is a passionate and spirited woman, and the contrast between her and Mei is so strong that Hao Min is gradually attracted to Mei, and eventually breaks off his engagement with his fiancée and chooses to stay with Mei.

Background

The director of the film, Tran Hero, traveled from Vietnam to France at the age of 12 to study, and while majoring in philosophy at the university, he became interested in cinema when he happened to watch the film "Dust of Empires," by the French director of Vietnamese descent, Lemuel Le. The film was Hero's debut, inspired by his childhood memories, most notably his mother's.

The director wanted to make a story about women, to show how they live in Vietnam, and to talk about the various stages of women's lives, and the film depicts Hero's ideal of the Vietnamese people and their lives. At the same time, because of his quiet nature, he wanted to create a sensual atmosphere with a quiet aura, so he deliberately created a sense of serenity in the movie.