Meanwhile, before that, if we count from after 1986 until the last few years, most of the images of Vietnamese women in movies during that period were of patience, weakness, and weak resistance.
In “Peach, Pho and Piano”, young actress Cao Thuy Linh plays the role of a young lady from Hanoi, Thuc Huong, who has lost her family and returns to her old house to meet her lover, the militiaman Van Dan (played by Doan Quoc Dam). Thuc Huong and Van Dan had a simple but cozy and unique wedding right in the middle of the fiery battlefield. And both were determined to stay in the capital to fight with the people during the fierce and heroic moments of Hanoi in 1946-1947.
The image of the girl Thuc Huong in a white ao dai, holding a three-pronged bomb and rushing into an enemy tank, “determined to die for the Fatherland” is so beautiful and tragic, it moves the audience. Vietnamese women have a beautiful and strong image and we have to go back in time and watch classic films of Vietnamese cinema such as “17th Parallel Day and Night” (director Hai Ninh), “Chi Tu Hau” (director Pham Ky Nam), “Canh Dong Hoang” (director Hong Sen)... to see it again.
Or the movie “Mai” with the main character Mai (played by Phuong Anh Dao) is strong, self-respecting, has the desire to rise up and realize her dream through her own efforts. She lives honestly, is poor but not mean, has no inferiority complex with her original job and tries every day to have a better future.
Looking back at post-war and post-renovation films, the fate of Vietnamese women in most films is a sigh. The scene of two women falling into the situation of having to share a husband and in the end, one decides to sacrifice her happiness for the other is a tragedy in “Doi Cat” (directed by Thanh Van).
Another example is the character of teacher Hanh in the movie “Moon at the Bottom of the Well” (directed by Vinh Son) who pampers and takes care of her husband like a “slave”, even looking for a woman to give birth to a child for her husband’s family, then writes a divorce petition to “rationalize” her husband’s reputation, dignity and the position of Principal that is on the brink. After that, Hanh cleans the new house for her husband and new wife to live separately to avoid scandal for her husband and herself from being considered a lawbreaker… And finally, when true love has died, Hanh turns to worshiping the King in a fancy hat and shirt on the altar filled with incense smoke, in the cold house…
Vietnamese women are marked by the virtue of sacrifice, endurance and still suffer many tragedies such as in the films “How long does the rain fall”, “Ao lua Ha Dong”, “Cuoc doi cua Yen”, “Nguoi tro ve”… That sacrifice has invisibly lowered the role of women and made viewers feel pity instead of sadness and sympathy. Or the recent film “Tro tan glorious” (directed by Bui Thac Chuyen), the tragedy of three women who love too much or, more accurately, are used to living with a man all their lives and waiting for him to reciprocate some of their love.
Some commercial films have a more positive image of women, often as the head of the family like “My Husband”, or equally scheming and cunning in “family fighting” to overthrow the family like “The Old Girl with Many Tricks”… But this number is not much and the image of Vietnamese women not daring to fight to change their fate is still the main feature. Even in independent films like “The Third Wife”, “Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere”… in the past and recently like “The Coolie Who Never Cry”, feminism is still not clearly defined.
Until the film “Rain on the Butterfly Wings” by director Duong Dieu Linh achieved some success at recent international film festivals, the feminist voice became much stronger. There is a difference in the film. Even when the mother finds family happiness by seeking a shaman and relying on charms, she also knows how to change her appearance to be more beautiful. Meanwhile, the daughter always knows how to escape to speak her independent voice.
Director Duong Dieu Linh once shared on the media and social networks: “The film begins a journey to discover who really causes pain to women, through the intertwined world of mother and daughter, leading to an unexpected discovery. This is my attempt to break the stereotypical image of sad and helpless women, instead showing them as full of life and humor, with a bit of magical realism and dreams.”
