Image: Nguyen Phuong Tra My in her screen debut in The Third Wife.Source: Potential Films.
The Third Wife: The directorial debut of the French-Vietnamese Ash Mayfield, The Third Wife has caused controversy with its tale of a 14-year-old girl married off to a wealthy landowner in 19th century Vietnam, and having to find her place in amidst the first and second wives. Mayfield gives an artistic advisor credit to Tran Anh Hung, and some critics find it easy to see the aesthetic influence of the director who gave us The Scent of Green Papaya and Cyclo, some of the first Vietnamese films we saw here in Australia. The R-rated film was banned in Vietnam for its sexual frankness involving the sadomasochistic plot and very young lead actress (Nguyen Phuong Tra My, in her screen debut). Writing for the Age, Jake Wilson said it was ‘first and foremost crafted to seduce – and the character of May is central to its methods of seduction, in her youthful beauty, her suffering innocence and her gradually awakening desires.’
