A quiet performer

Duc Hanh chats to Tran Le Van, who starred in the film When the 10th month comes, recently declared one of the best Asian films ever made by CNN.

Le Van is best known for her role as Duyen in the acclaimed film Bao gio cho den thang muoi (When the 10th month comes)When I first saw the film Bao gio cho den thang Muoi (When the 10th month comes) I was just 10 years old. I have watched the film at least once or twice a year since then and every time I see it I am captivated by the beautiful Duyen, a slender girl with long, black hair, a symbol of Vietnamese feminine beauty at the time. Rewatching the film always reminds me of a time when there was no foreign films broadcast in Vietnam. Nowadays Vietnamese films have to compete against Chinese Kung fu films, South Korean dramas and Hollywood blockbusters. Today the actress who played Duyen, Le Van, lives in a quiet neighbourhood of Hanoi with her Dutch husband and their two young boys. When I arrive at her house she is reading 10-year old Avi a story and like a true fan I’m struck dumb by her beauty. But there’s no glitz and glamour to this film star. Le Van is a down to earth woman who has been happily living the quiet life after giving up acting over 10 years ago. Le Van took to the camera like a child to the manor born. Both her parents were stage and film actors. Her younger sister is also an actress and a ballerina. At the age of 10, Le Van was sent to a boarding school for dance. After graduating seven years later, she joined the National Dance Theatre in Hanoi. But the exciting world of celluloid also appealed to her at that time. She starred in films such as Chi Dau (Big sister Dau), Dang thi Hue (Imperial concubine) and Dem hoi long Tri (Dragon Pool Gala) as well as When the 10th month comes, which she made when she was 24 years old. Now 24 years later, the film is the talk of the town again after the American news agency CNN declared it to be of the best 18 Asian films of all time. “I was moved to tears when I heard from my father’s friend and neighbour about the film being honoured by CNN,” says Le Van. “I remember at the time I was making the film. I was cast as the main character in Spartacus, the ballet, and practicing with Russian choreographers,” she continues. “I had to act in the film from noon until midnight then I had to wake up at five in the morning and go to the theatre to training from nine until noon. I had this schedule for three months! “I never understood why I could stand that pressure without feeling drowsy or tired,” she adds. “Perhaps my endurance came from all the hard work I had done to train for the ballet. “The writer and director Dang Nhat Minh also had confidence in my acting. He always let me explore my feelings and creativity even though I was just an amateur. I think his patience and respect encouraged me a lot. I lived the life of my character. Even in some scenes, I forgot myself and thought that I was Duyen.” The film never fails to move me to tears. Especially when Duyen’s father-in-law is dying and Duyen is choking up with emotion. “For that scene there was no dialogue in the script. Minh asked me to express what I had felt or experienced from the agony of heart-break,” explains Le Van. “At first I did not know how to express this but I tried to put myself in the mind of Duyen and I acted with my most instinctive and intense feelings. I think the truer to life art is the more valuable it will be. After the shot, I remember everyone around me was left teary eyed.” Even now, just talking about the scene, Le Van’s eyes are watering. It is just one of those classic scenes that will cut to the core of you, no matter who you are, where you come from. Le Van’s brother-in-law, who recently visited Vietnam, promised to try and screen the film back in the Netherlands to reach a wider audience. Now that the film has received this huge honour from CNN, hopefully it will enjoy a second lease of life. About the film
When the Tenth Month Comes or (Bao gio cho den thang muoi) in Vietnamese was produced in 1984 by the writer and director Dang Nhat Minh. The film, released internationally under the name The Love Doesn’t Come Back, is a haunting portrait of one woman’s struggle with loss and personal sacrifice during the war. The 90-minute feature has won awards at the 1985 Hawaii International Film Festival and at the 1989 Asia Pacific Film Festival and was most recently declared to be one of the best 18 Asian films ever made by CNN. It is a lyrical vision of the endurance of Vietnamese women from one of Vietnam’s most renowned directors. The film’s main character is Duyen, a beautiful young mother whose efforts to shoulder the burden of her husband’s death alone lead to unforeseen complications. Her responsibility to keep the news from her ailing father-in-law forces her to recruit the local schoolteacher Khang into her plans, which involves forging letters from her husband. Duyen and Khang then find themselves drawing closer together. The film’s title refers to the month in which the Day of Forgiveness occurs – a time when it is said that departed souls can visit their counterparts on earth. It is then when the wandering souls return to comfort the living, and Duyen searches the temple grounds nightly to try to find her husband’s ghost. The outcome of the film blends an overwhelming desire to remain human and promote kindness during the tragedies of war. Dang Nhat Minh captures the essence of the Vietnamese soul, people’s love of their family, their sense of responsibility and willingness to sacrifice as well as the warmth of the common people.
(Source: Timeout)