The Scent of Green Papaya: Gender Roles in Old Vietnamese Society.
The Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnamese title: Mùi đu đủ xanh, French title: L’Odeur de la papaye verte), directed by Vietnamese-French director Trần Anh Hùng, was produced with funding from a French producer. The film portrays the lifestyle of Vietnamese people before and during the Vietnam War (around the 1940s-1970s) and reflects on gender roles in Vietnamese society at that time.
Mùi, an innocent girl from the countryside, has to leave her hometown to work as a servant in the home of a wealthy family whose financial status is deteriorating, located in Saigon, Vietnam. The household includes the father (the wealthy man), the mother (the lady of the house), the grandmother (the wealthy man’s mother), the eldest son Trung, the middle son Lam, and the youngest son Tin. The youngest daughter, Thọ, passed away a long time ago. The middle-aged housemaid is named Tí.
Every day, Mùi leads a simple life and learns from the nature around her with the pure and innocent perspective of a child. An old man named Thuận, who has secretly loved the grandmother since her youth, visits the house every day to gaze at the roof and reminisce about her, with Mùi offering him comfort and companionship.
Ten years later, when Mùi has grown into a twenty-year-old servant, the eldest son Trung decides to dismiss her and send her to work as a servant in the house of his friend, Khuyến. Mùi has secretly loved Khuyến since she was a little girl. Khuyến, also the son of a wealthy family, is a pianist engaged to a woman of his social class named Thu. Their relationship slowly changes as Mùi begins working as a housemaid in Khuyến’s home.
The story unfolds at a slow pace, with no complex plotlines. The film conveys its narrative through artistic elements, sound, and the actors’ subtle expressions, with more than 80% of the storytelling requiring interpretation of the carefully embedded symbols. This unique storytelling style is characteristic of Trần Anh Hùng’s work.
Roles, Responsibilities, and Vietnamese Way of Life — Influence of Chinese Culture in Vietnamese Society
This film reflects Vietnamese society before 1940, when the patriarchal system was still deeply entrenched, manifesting in the way life was organized within households. Since Vietnamese culture has been influenced by Chinese culture, the film subtly reflects the yin-yang energy as per Confucian philosophy.
In this context, balance between male and female energies is necessary to create a warm and harmonious household or society. In the film, the wealthy family’s home is depicted as lacking balance between male and female energies, resulting in a problematic household.
This imbalance is evident from the fact that the wealthy household consists of four males: the father (the wealthy man), the eldest son, the middle son, and the youngest son. The males in the house take no responsibility for anything inside or outside the home, spending most of their time playing music, seeking pleasure outside, and wasting their inherited wealth (the father and eldest son, Trung, often indulging in their desires without concern for the family’s financial status). Midway through the film, the wealthy father, who had behaved properly since the death of his daughter, steals the family’s savings to spend on women, eventually returning home ill and penniless, dying soon after.
Other behaviors also illustrate this imbalance, such as reading leisurely, killing or torturing animals to vent frustrations from a dysfunctional family (the middle son Lam, who is emotionally repressed, often uses anger to solve problems and isolates himself with books), or playing cruel tricks on female servants for amusement (the youngest son Tin, who often harasses the servant Mùi, like urinating in a vase she cleaned or hiding a lizard in it to startle her, causing the vase to break in hopes that Mùi would be punished. However, the lady of the house understands the situation and does not blame Mùi, knowing it was her son’s doing).
In contrast, the women in the household are responsible for domestic duties and earning money. These women include the grandmother, the mother (the lady of the house), and the elderly maid. The film shows that the female energy in the household is weaker than the male energy, with the women being middle-aged to elderly and having less power compared to the younger and middle-aged men who still hold much control.
Additionally, the film portrays the character Thuận, the old man who secretly loves the grandmother, as an outsider with no voice or status to influence or act as he wishes, in stark contrast to the four men in the wealthy family, who have the authority to do whatever they please. The women, meanwhile, lack the power to criticize or condemn any wrongdoing.
Interestingly, the women in the film end up blaming themselves when bad things happen within the family, reflecting the strong presence of patriarchy in both the wealthy family and Vietnamese society at the time.
Therefore, the lady of the house feels compelled to bring in a new servant, the young Mùi, to restore the household’s balance. For the lady, Mùi is more than just a servant; she becomes a replacement for the daughter she lost to illness many years ago. The lady even admits that having Mùi in the family has helped heal her emotionally from her previously unhappy life.
Additionally, the household comes to view Mùi as a “daughter” of the family in a way. The lady once believed that Lam (the middle son) might fall in love with Mùi and take her as his wife, but he does not, instead moving away to pursue a secluded life writing books, possibly signifying that he sees her as a sister. Another significant event is when Trung (the eldest son) dismisses Mùi and sends her to work as a servant in the home of his friend Khuyến, which parallels the tradition in Chinese or Vietnamese culture where a daughter marries into her husband’s household.
Thus, the roles of daughter, bride, and servant in this film are almost indistinguishable, as serving, pleasing, and supporting fathers, brothers, and husbands are still considered the duties of women in Asian culture.
Mui’s Social Status Progression through Film Symbols
At the age of 20, Mùi moves to work at Khuyen’s home, a pianist who lives alone, with occasional visits from his fiancée, Thu. Mùi’s daily routine consists of cooking, cleaning, checking the house, polishing shoes, and mending Khuyen’s clothes. Everything she does is filled with love and willingness, as if she were already his wife.
In contrast, Thu represents a modern woman who disdains traditional domestic roles. She enjoys nightlife and prefers dining out (even though Mùi prepares meals for them, Thu insists on Khuyen taking her out). She also openly invites Khuyen into his bedroom for sex, even when Khuyen appears reluctant, reflecting her modern, forward-thinking approach to relationships.
Thu brings a vase to Khuyen, which symbolizes her assertiveness in the relationship. This can be interpreted as Thu offering herself, her love, and her body too openly, which, from a male perspective, can make a man feel as though he has “lost his masculinity” or his natural role as the pursuer. Khuyen’s indifferent response to the vase, telling her, “It’s broken,” reflects his lack of care or interest in Thu’s affections or her body, which she persistently offers to him. Thu tries to dismiss this rejection by laughing, attempting to cover her disappointment.
Meanwhile, Mùi’s simple life in Khuyen’s home slowly nurtures his growing affection for her. Mùi begins to sense Khuyen’s feelings through his drawings on his music sheets. This shows that Mùi’s presence occupies his thoughts, even during his work. However, Mùi understands her status as a servant, knowing that her feelings for Khuyen, and his for her, are seemingly impossible.
Mùi’s struggle to suppress her feelings is symbolized in the scene where she extinguishes a burning mosquito coil to prevent the fire from spreading, representing her attempt to quell the emotions stirring within her.
The roles of being the “dominant one” and the “submassive one” become clearer in the scene where Mùi dresses beautifully in a red outfit. This shows that no matter how hard she tries to suppress her feelings, she is pleased to know that Khuyến has positive feelings toward her. Her happiness is reflected in her appearance, wearing makeup and lipstick, symbolizing her heightened sexual emotions. However, at the same time, she feels fear toward him, knowing she is merely a servant and a woman with no rights or ability to confront Khuyến.
This feeling is illustrated when Khuyến notices that she has applied lipstick. He behaves like a predator stalking its prey, slowly creeping up on her. When Mùi becomes aware of this, she quickly runs away to hide in fear and paranoia. Khuyến then searches for her around the house, but when they meet, Mùi exhibits submission out of fear and embarrassment. This causes Khuyến to stop pursuing her, as he does not want to frighten her.
The fast, pounding music expresses Khuyến’s anger when his fiancée touches his head playfully. It is well-known that in Southeast Asian cultures, especially among men, the head is considered sacred, and it is a tradition that women should not touch it without permission. If they do, it is seen as disrespectful and a sign of elevating themselves above the man.
Khuyến’s fiancée, however, is a high-society woman, representing a modern woman raised in Western culture. She is outspoken, direct, and bold in expressing her thoughts. Her clothing is also modern, made from expensive fabrics and designed stylishly.
In stark contrast, Mùi is mostly silent throughout the story, only speaking when ordered by her employer or when necessary to respond. She remains quiet, never questioning or resisting anything. She continues to dress in the traditional Vietnamese áo dài, with a clean, makeup-free face, and her long black hair neatly braided.
In contrast, when Mùi enters the room, Khuyến switches to playing soft, graceful music, revealing his hidden affection for her. His feelings for her are tender, both sexually and romantically. This is immediately recognized by Tu, who secretly watches from the window and realizes that Khuyến, her fiancé, has shifted his affections to another woman. Even though Khuyến tries to suppress his feelings, he ultimately decides to approach Mùi in her bedroom, where she does not resist but simply bows her head in acceptance of what is to come.
Thus, Mui represents a woman completely under a patriarchal system, without even realizing it. She is also a symbol of the idealized Asian woman — submissive, humble, gentle, and compliant, a homemaker who respects all men, regardless of age or whether they violate her. Mùi never demands any rights over her own body, as if she does not know that she has those rights, molded by the societal norms of that time.
When Tu realizes that Mùi has taken her place in Khuyến’s heart, she destroys everything in Khuyến’s house, including breaking her own vase and removing her engagement ring before leaving. Mùi is slapped hard by Tu, forcing her to run and hide in her bedroom, deeply upset. When Khuyến sees the wreckage, he shows no reaction, as if he had expected it and understood Tu’s rage.
Tu’s actions reflect her anger at not being chosen by her lover and her defeat by the deeply rooted patriarchal culture in Asia, even though Western influences were already present in Vietnamese society at that time.
Khuyến later approaches Mui in her room and hands her a beginner’s Vietnamese lesson book, symbolizing his offering her the opportunity to become his chosen wife. This also reflects the male authority of that era, where men were the ones to teach and provide opportunities for women.
After Mùi practices reading and writing Vietnamese for a while, with Khuyến as her teacher, she becomes a woman who can finally express her voice without needing anyone to prompt her. In the final scene, she reads a book to Khuyến and their child in her womb.
Mùi, now wearing a yellow maternity dress, exudes the radiance of motherhood — gentle, warm, and peaceful. She represents a woman in a patriarchal society who has accepted its rules. Despite the hardships, she lives calmly and accepts the course of life, ultimately finding the life she had long desired.
