1. Indochine (1992)
This film, directed by French director Régis Wargnier, premiered in 1992 and features actors such as Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, Phạm Linh Đan, Trịnh Thịnh, and Như Quỳnh. The film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Catherine Deneuve was nominated for Best Actress.
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The story revolves around the lives of Eliane Devries (Catherine Deneuve) and her adopted daughter Camille (Phạm Linh Đan). Eliane, a French woman living in Vietnam, owns a large rubber plantation inherited from her father. Though many men pursue her, she remains single and adopts Camille, a Vietnamese girl. Their lives proceed peacefully until Jean-Baptiste Le Guen, a young naval officer, arrives. Camille falls deeply in love with Jean-Baptiste and follows her heart to be with him. Later, Jean-Baptiste dies, and Eliane raises their son, while Camille joins the revolution. The two reunite at the Geneva Conference in 1954.
Indochine is the most famous film about Vietnam and is also considered one of the highest-quality films artistically. Released in 1992, it significantly boosted Vietnamese tourism during the early years of the country's opening to the world.
2. The Lover (1992)
This French film, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and based on the novel by Marguerite Duras, also premiered in 1992. It stars Tony Leung Ka-fai, Jane March, and Lisa Faulkner. The Lover was highly praised for its soundtrack, winning Best Original Score at the César Awards in 1993.
The film is based on a true story in the novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras, about her love affair with a wealthy Chinese landowner named Huỳnh Thủy Lê in Sa Đéc, Đồng Tháp. A wealthy, 30-year-old Chinese man falls in love with a 15-year-old French girl he meets on a ferry as she arrives in Vietnam with her family. The two quickly fall for each other, and the young man seeks out the French girl for future encounters, leading to a passionate relationship.
However, when their families learn about the relationship, it is forbidden. Unable to resist family expectations, the young man marries someone from his community, while the girl returns to France. A decade later, the young man travels to France and meets the girl, now a renowned writer, and they realize they still love each other. Following this film, the Huỳnh Thủy Lê and Bình Thủy ancestral houses became popular tourist attractions in the Mekong Delta.
3. The Quiet American (2002)
This film was inspired by director Phillip Noyce’s return trip to Vietnam and is based on Graham Greene's novel of the same name, featuring performances by Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, and Đỗ Thị Hải Yến. The film catapulted Đỗ Thị Hải Yến to fame. Michael Caine received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in 2002 for his role.
The story follows a love triangle set against the backdrop of the escalating war in southern Vietnam in 1952. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), a British journalist, travels to Vietnam to report on the conflict. There, he meets and forms a bond with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a quiet American ophthalmologist volunteering in Vietnam. Due to Pyle’s reserved nature, he is known as "the quiet American."
Fowler introduces his Vietnamese girlfriend Phuong (Hải Yến), a beautiful dancer, to Pyle, not realizing that Pyle falls in love with her at first sight. Pyle tries to "steal" Phuong with promises of marriage and safety. Eventually, Pyle is killed after it is revealed he was a spy, and Phuong returns to Fowler. Although artistically praised, the film did not achieve as much acclaim as expected, as it was released shortly after 9/11 and during the Afghanistan war.
4. The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
This is a film by overseas Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung. The film is like a way for him to relive his childhood, as Hung moved to France when he was very young. Lu Man Sang, a French actress of Asian descent, plays young Mui; Tran Nu Yen Khe, the director’s wife, who is also a French-Vietnamese, plays Mui when she is grown up. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1994 Oscars and won the Best First Film Award at the 1994 Cesar Awards.
The film tells the story of a girl named Mui, starting from when she was 10 years old and working as a maid for a middle-class family until she grows up and marries. The film is set in Saigon in the 1950s. This film helped define the filmmaking style of Tran Anh Hung in the years that followed: slow-paced, deep, with many hidden emotions and metaphors. Despite having to work as a maid, Mui still retains the purity, innocence, and simplicity of a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl.
Later, when she grows into a beautiful young woman and meets and falls in love with Khuyen, a pianist and old friend of her employer, she still maintains her saintly beauty. To see the traditional and pure Vietnamese soul, one should watch The Scent of Green Papaya. The film was mostly shot in a French studio.
This film belongs to the arthouse genre that helped shape Tran Anh Hung’s filmmaking style in the future.
5. Cyclo (1995)
Winning the prestigious Golden Lion for Best Film at the 52nd Venice Film Festival (1995), Cyclo is a realistic portrait of the harsh life of the working-class people in Ho Chi Minh City in the early 90s. The main character of the story is a young man named Le Van Loc, a simple, orphaned young man who lives in a dilapidated house with his grandfather, sister, and younger sister. He earns a living by riding a cyclo. One day, the cyclo he borrowed is stolen. To repay for the lost cyclo, he is forced to join criminal gangs and commit various crimes. During this time, the young man is always filled with guilt and suffering.
Another key element of the film is the appearance of his older sister (Tran Nu Yen Khe). Lured by the gang leader, she inadvertently becomes a prostitute. These two characters, from different perspectives, share the common fate of being poor people pushed by the flow of life.
Overall, the film offers the audience an image of a chaotic Saigon in the 90s. It portrays a disorderly society where people are victims of black money. Besides reflecting society, Tran Anh Hung also explores the human psyche, seeking to find the desires still hidden within them. Cyclo, starring familiar names like Leung Chiu Wai, Tran Nu Yen Khe, and Nhu Quynh, features a lead male role played by Le Van Loc, a new face in Vietnamese cinema at the time. According to Tran Anh Hung, this is a face that "can be fierce but also very kind-hearted."
6. The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
The Vertical Ray of the Sun is a snapshot of the everyday life of a family in Hanoi consisting of three girls and one boy. Although the two older sisters have their own lives, when the death anniversary arrives, the three sisters gather together and talk.
The eldest, Suong (Nhu Quynh), is a woman who always carries the pain of finding out that her husband has a child with another woman. However, she herself secretly has an affair with another man. Next is Khanh (Le Khanh), the second sister, who is pregnant. After a business trip by her husband, Khanh finds a piece of paper from a strange girl in his pocket. As a result, Khanh begins to doubt her husband's honesty. The youngest, Lien (Tran Nu Yen Khe), is unmarried and still lives with her brother, Hai (Ngo Quang Hai). One day, Lien falls in love with Hoa, an architecture student who is one year older than her. Through The Vertical Ray of the Sun, viewers will have the chance to admire a tranquil Hanoi. Similar to The Scent of Green Papaya, the story in The Vertical Ray of the Sun is told by Tran Anh Hung in a gentle, subtle manner. Even simple scenes like the three sisters huddling together to butcher a chicken, split a gourd, or scenes of Hanoi in the rain are all poetic.
7. Kong: Skull Island (2017)
The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and won the award for the best teaser. After the Vietnam War ended, a group of researchers, supported by the U.S. government, set out to search for a mysterious island in the southern Pacific. Surprisingly, this is Skull Island, where the giant Kong monkey resides, and the landscapes of limestone mountains in Trang An, Phong Nha cave have decorated the sweeping scenery of the film. The majestic mountains and the emerald waters of Van Long Lagoon, Ha Long Bay stand tall during the battles between humans and monsters. Viewers will surely be amazed by the pristine and unique natural beauty of Vietnam in this blockbuster film.
8. Thi Mai, Rumbo a Vietnam (2018)
The film revolves around the story of Carmen, a woman who defies difficulties to go to Vietnam to adopt the child of her deceased daughter. The setting of the film takes place in Hanoi, the bustling and simple capital of Vietnam, specifically at the vital bridge in the eastern gateway of the capital – Chuong Duong Bridge. In addition, the The Huc Bridge, a cultural symbol of Hanoi people, Dong Xuan market, a market that has existed for over 100 years of history, and several sidewalk eateries were used as filming locations throughout the film. This adventurous and humorous film will surely give viewers moments of relaxation as well as memories in an ancient and majestic Hanoi.
9. A Tourist’s Guide to Love (2023)
A Tourist’s Guide to Love is the first foreign film shot in Vietnam after the Covid-19 pandemic, with beautiful scenes extending from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi to Da Nang, Hoi An, and Ha Giang. Released globally on April 21, A Tourist’s Guide to Love became the most-watched English-language film on Netflix with 20.92 million hours from April 24-30.