The East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) is delighted to be partnering with Dublin Lunar New Year and Asia Market to present The Scent of Green Papaya. The first part of his Vietnam Trilogy, it is French-Vietnamese writer-director Tran Anh Hùng’s (The Taste of Things, 2023) brilliant debut feature, set in 1950/60s Saigon.

In a subtle exploration of female characters, the story unfolds in two parts beginning in 1951. In the interiors of a house and garden with a papaya tree, domestic chores and the intimate life of a wealthy but troubled family and their servants unfold. The slow decline of a society, its family life, gender and class, mirrors the coming-of-age and romantic blossoming of servant girl Mùi.

Sparse dialogue and elaborate compositions in a precise palette of colours, textures and sounds (birds, insects, plants, food preparation, clothes, interiors and piano), combine with fluid tracking shots to create a languorous and sensual cinema full of palpable sensations. A pioneer of lyrical and evocative films.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard, programme curator & co-organiser of EAFFI & EAFFI Discoveries