The Third Wife (2018)

Directed by: Ash Mayfair | 96 minutes | drama | Actors: Nguyen Phuong Tra My, Mai Thu Huong Maya, Nguyen Thanh Tam, Long Le Vu, Nu Yên-Khê Tran, Hong Chuong Nguyen, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Lam Thanh My, Mai Cát Vi, Khanh An Tang, Trung Anh, Thi Kim Ngan Phami

Sensual, enchanting and sensitive: superlatives fail to describe ‘The Third Wife’. This confident feature debut by Vietnamese talent Ash Mayfair tells the emotional and impressive story of May, a young teenage girl, who is married off to Hung, a rich, much older man. In the Vietnam of the 19th century, in which this film is set, it is not uncommon for men to have multiple wives. May is therefore not the first wife of Hung, and hence the title.

Mayfair takes all the time to portray the story. In the opening scene, the camera slides up almost teasingly to show an incomparably beautiful environment, over which a few boats sail towards the viewer. In the following scene, also without dialogue, we see May in the midst of her new ‘family’. She just observes, curious about these people, with whom she will spend the rest of her life. The innocence radiates from her face, her shawl slips a little off her shoulder, the colors are warm and bam, as a viewer you are sold.

That same evening, May loses her virginity. The poor kid is only fourteen, yet this scene is as delicate as can be. An egg yolk is slurped – after all, May’s most important job in this household is to give birth to a son and this ritual can help with that – and the physical evidence of the loveless togetherness is hung in the courtyard the next day.

Slowly but surely, May’s naivete disappears, helped in particular by Xuang, Hung’s second wife, partly consciously, but also subconsciously. Xuang explains to the giggling May how she can experience pleasure herself, but May sees it in practice when she sees Xuang and Son, the son of Hung and his first wife Ha, making love among the bamboo bushes. Through a barely visible movement of her eyebrows, we see how much impression this spectacle makes on the young girl.

But at the same time she remains a child. She spends a lot of time with Hung and Xuan’s daughters, who care less about age than Xuan and Ha, so it’s easy to imagine that she doesn’t know how to deal with the growing creature in her belly. to go.

‘The Third Wife’ is a sensory film pur sang. The images are stunning, thanks to the phenomenal cinematography. The play with colours, textures and movements is almost magical, everything about this painterly film makes you want to feel the fabrics, that you want to let the water flow past your hands too, that you want to hug the special tree in the courtyard. Mayfair adds beautiful wildlife shots, with close-ups of silkworms, reflections in the river and unusual rock formations.

Mayfair based this film on the history of her own family. She gives the women of her previous generations a powerful voice. The rituals and atmosphere may have a strong Vietnamese tint, but the story of this film, about the oppression of women, transcends countries and centuries. It’s a masterful movie.