Hoang and Jimmy’s roundtable review of The Third Wife
(We’re at the Sydney Film Festival 2019 watching films every day until our eyes bleed. Spoilers aplenty.)
Jimmy: First off, hats off to cinematographer fwend Chananun Chotrungroj who shot 19th century Vietnam more beautifully than I could have imagined that period. While I remember Pop Aye more for the elephant than anything else (a technical feat in of itself), Don’t Come Back From The Moon was a preferred canvas for her talent given where my friends and I are at personally in our lives (parenthood & familial responsibility).
We assumed The Third Wife [story] was going to suck, in that, it was going to be predictable. What did you think?
Jimmy: I was delighted by the character reveals: the third wife’s lesbianic lust for the second wife, the second wife’s jungle cougar-ing of the 19th-century-poolboy-of-a-son [voyeurism FTW], and the first wife’s persistent libido. I’m still trying to work out whether the first wife was more a hedonist, or was truly in love with the landowner — I’m leaning towards the latter. First loves man, first loves.
Hoang: The Third Wife was like watching a film about my mom. My mom was my dad’s third wife. Although my parents had a monogamous marriage, my grandma viewed my mom as the third wife. After the war, the government didn’t acknowledge polygamy (in school), so we (Millennials) were confused about it as we studied Vietnamese history and culture (we kids chase the modern life nowadays). At times, we (Millennial kids) are disconnected from our own families. This film helps me understand my family, my mom, myself a little more.
What did you like most about the film?
Hoang: Taught me a lot about culture. Polygamy (in Vietnam) was a very common practice back then. I got to see what it was like to be in North Vietnam during the 19th-century, from the perspective of a young girl of 14-year old [as the wife].
We also have to mention the dream sequence. There was a dream sequence after she passed out that emphasizes the thought of death (from her giving birthing). I thought she was dead already.
Jimmy: I ain’t gonna front, I got a mad crush on the second wife. Second wife did whatever she wanted, while caring for those she loved. Gahgahgoogooblahblahblah. I am starting to believe the second wife was based on Hô Xuân Huong and her poetry (shout out Thầy Bac). Jocelyn Enriquez corny joke hour: “Do you mít me?”
Would you ban this film (in Vietnam)?
Hoang: I would not. I really believe this film. My (modern) generation hasn’t been well educated, or even, shown 19th-century Vietnam. We got to discover how people acted, how they dressed, what they did during weddings, farming practices, and so on. I understand why it was banned by the government, due to the central story of a teenage girl impregnated by a grown married man. It is indeed a critical piece of art when it’s banned.
Jimmy: When a film gets banned, one naturally ruminates the reasons it got banned: religious persecution, government critique, gratuitous sex and violence, or a combination of the above. I believe this film got banned because of one moment, and one moment only: the underaged kiss between the third and second wife.
It is thought — from watching this kind of behavior, people will get bad ideas, then people will behave badly, then society runs amok.
In the long view, let’s be real: people aren’t going to care as long as you don’t care. We, as a general populace, all got more important things to do, like floss, save for retirement, and like 2 out of 3 photos from our Instagram crush. Banning a film, like bad publicity, does wonders for the legacy of a film. The Third Wife film will now go down as a Vietnamese film everyone has to watch. In the economics of the film industry, the more money this makes, the more films of this nature will be made.
Thoughts of pretty you and me, Irony city come alive.
What happened in the end? Does she kill her baby, or herself?
Hoang: In a quiet, vast countryside, the film ends with the image of the third wife holding the baby in one hand — and in the other, the poison leaves (she saw the first wife use on the killing of cows). Now, I’ll take a wild guess: she killed the baby because of how much she was obsessed with having a boy, which turned out to be a girl. She must be obsessed with the family’s wealth too. But, I will ask the other question: what if she wants to kill herself, and the baby with her? It was an opening ending after all. She (the third wife) was young, and perhaps, very in love with the second wife, and was ultimately rejected. The third wife also resented her husband. She could have been very desperate for her life, until she saw the wife of the husband’s son commit suicide. She realized she could do the same (commit suicide). As a 14-year old girl, monkey sees, monkey does.
Jimmy: If I may quote Bronn from Game of Thrones (RIP): “That fucking family.”
Final verdict
Jimmy: How wonderful is it that this film is all about the character development of all the women, 19th-century Vietnamese women at that. Thumbs up.
Hoang: I give this film a very big thumbs up for the beautiful theme, twisted story and an excellent representation of 19th-century Vietnam.
