Lisa Easterling If you like a simple story with a happy ending and beautiful filming, The Scent of Green Papaya is for you. There is an unparalleled aesthetic and soothing quality to the film that traces the life of Mui, a peasant girl sent to Saigon to work for a well-to-do merchant family, and her new "family." Mui is a calm, peaceful soul, filled with happiness and joy. She teaches us to find the beautiful in the everyday and is an interesting contrast to the sons in the family, one who destroys the life around him and another who seeks to torment Mui relentlessly. The story line is simple and the scenery does not change much. Yet, each frame captures the unique details of the objects and people within the frame. This serves as a reminder to look around one's everyday environment and enjoy the aesthetics and life found there. Although obviously filmed on set and not within the natural environment, watching this film was like walking through a hidden botanical garden in a bustling city...full of treasures that delight the eyes and calm the soul.

MartinHafer The video case for this film reads "a story of beauty, passion, and forbidden fruit". Are they talking about the same movie I just saw?! They can't be, as the film I just saw was beautiful, but there was no passion and as for the fruit, this is all hogwash meant to entice the potential viewer to see this movie. If only it did have some passion or some life to it, I would have greatly enjoyed this film. Instead, it was an agonizingly slow paced and not particularly interesting film that I would definitely not want to see again. It isn't that it's a bad film (after all it IS very beautifully filmed), but it is dull beyond belief. I kept waiting for something exciting or interesting to happen, but then the movie just ended. There was no great sense of excitement, mystery or anything--just a rather unexciting story about a young girl who becomes a servant and spends the next 10 years of her life working as a maid.

ccthemovieman-1 Even on VHS this looks fantastic, but on the new Blu-Ray, it's just stunning. This is one of the most gorgeous- looking films you'll ever see, extremely aesthetic, with beautiful muted browns and greens. The closeups of the young girl's cute face, and then later as young woman; the closeups of the insects, the house, food, shrubbery, etc, are all very pretty view. The background noises are unique, too. Much of the time you hear birds or insects; it's quite different.The drawback to this movie, one that will turn many people off, is the story is extremely slow, one of the slowest-moving films I have ever witnessed....but "Mui," the lead character is so appealing both as a young girl and then young adult that she makes it an involving story.If you have patience and a love of great visuals, this is a film to treasure.

reedwaller This stunningly beautiful film has a strong Buddhist theme, so it's unsurprising that many American viewers were perplexed by it even while captivated by its beauty. It is the story of Mui, a poor servant girl ... except she is no ordinary servant girl, she is an Enlightened One. She lives totally in the here and now, and sees and appreciates everything (and so do we, thanks to the breathtaking color cinematography). She quietly goes through her ordinary life, giving every tiny moment all her attention and invisibly enriching the lives of all those around her, until near the end of the picture she is given off to a family friend whom, coincidentally, she has fancied since she was little. He is engaged to another woman, but one day he picks up a bust of Buddha, and stares at it with recognition, realizing suddenly that the face and the smile of the Buddha are something he has been seeing every day, on Mui. He sees her for what she is, and both their lives are transformed. Even more astounding than the richness and beauty of this film, is the feat of finding two wonderful actresses 10 years apart, to play the same very unusual girl, both identically beautiful and graceful and having the Buddha smile. Intoxicating and unforgettable.