Director Duong Dieu Linh's debut film does not want to reinforce toxic feminist ideology, but on the contrary, brings a tolerant and sympathetic view to both genders, especially when in middle age.
“Rain on butterfly wings” by director Duong Dieu Linh is a rare art film that "opened" the box office in early 2025. Telling a familiar Vietnamese story but thanks to a new storytelling style, the film won the Circolo del Cinema Verona award (for most creative film) at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
It is not easy to grasp all the director's intentions, but the film is still considered a new dish of Vietnamese cinema, or as some forums have commented, "a chaotic energy blend of tragicomedy, psychological and horror genres."
"Who made you suffer?"
“Rain on butterfly wings” The film revolves around Mrs. Tam (Tu Oanh) - a middle-aged woman who is both good at making money and always manages and takes care of the house. However, her marriage with her husband - Mr. Thanh (Le Vu Long) - has long since died out. On the ceiling of the house where her family lives, there is a phenomenon of water leakage.
The embarrassing moment happened when Mrs. Tam was on her way home from work. At the national team match, the camera panned to Mr. Thanh and his mistress. The irony of the situation made it “clear outside the house before it was clear,” the middle-aged woman could only bow her head in humiliation amid the reproach and gossip of the women around her for “not controlling her husband tightly enough.”
But instead of choosing dialogue, Mrs. Tam turned to spiritual methods - inviting a famous "reputable" shaman on Tiktok to perform a ceremony. As time went on, the leaking situation on the ceiling became more and more serious, but the strange thing was that this phenomenon was completely invisible to the men.
The leak gradually transformed into a mysterious and dark force, haunting the lives of Mrs. Tam and her daughter Ha (Nam Linh). The “monster” symbolizes the instability that is silently destroying each person in the family, causing Mrs. Tam to struggle hopelessly.
Knowing that her parents’ marriage had been broken for a long time, with both of them being the culprits, Ha was dissatisfied and frustrated when her mother silently took all the blame on herself. She shouted, “Who made you suffer?” and Mrs. Tam had no reasonable answer.
Making films four times (starting with three short films), Duong Dieu Linh continuously rediscovers the theme of women surrounded by social expectations. With “Rain on Butterfly Wings,” The story is formed from her observations of the women around her.
“Out of 10 stories of broken marriages that I have heard from mothers, 9 are stories of misery, jealousy, revenge, but not of leaving the husband. The story of leaving the husband will be talked about as a failure. In a way, one’s identity is defined by the family, not the self,” the 9X female director commented.
According to her, for the purpose of survival, humans always aim for stability and safety, so "leaving or punishing others is always stepping out of the safe zone, from which it is difficult to break out." That is the tragedy of Mrs. Tam. The title "Rain on the Butterfly's Wings" implies the ending of this character.
In one scene, mother and daughter climb a fairy-tale-like mountain together, then drift away from each other under a magical, beautiful moonlit river. Ha loves her mother very much, but at the same time, she wants to go far away to free herself before becoming her own prisoner.
“Women around us are also living according to society’s expectations. They have to take care of the house, raise children, be gentle with their husbands, and make their husbands proud… Sometimes these double standards do not only come from society, but are passed down from women to each other through generations. But when we realize that system, whether or not we ‘swim’ out of our comfort zone is a personal decision,” Duong Dieu Linh stated.
Midlife crisis spares no one.
Throughout the film, Mr. Thanh’s character has almost no dialogue. He exists in a leaky house (but he cannot see it), with the only time he smiles is when he appears next to his “mistress.” However, Le Vu Long’s role is not redundant but contributes to clarifying the theme of midlife crisis in “Rain on butterfly wings.”
During their tour of many film festivals, large and small, the crew received very diverse responses. While most of the Western audiences who asked questions about the film were female, the Eastern audiences were the opposite.
“Maybe Western audiences can’t understand how a man can behave like that in a family. But when it comes to Southeast Asia, the people who ask are mostly men. Maybe those who ask immediately realize what the problem of Asian men in the film is,” Duong Dieu Linh explained to herself.
She expressed that she did not want the audience to think that the film was one-sided, only supporting the female perspective and overlooking the feelings of men: “I do not want viewers to think that men are evil, but that they also have their own repressions. The reason why families break up is because both sides cannot talk to each other, and that is also a common story of middle age.”
Director Trinh Dinh Le Minh (director) (Dear Mom, I'm Going Home), "Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story" ) commented that the film has humor, satire, torment and gentle fantasy.
“Linh is interested in stories between mothers and daughters, in the absence/non-existence of fathers, in jealousy, in Northern women who often grumble, gather to discuss husbands and children and are stuck in that mess. They love each other in a grumpy way. Exploiting that story, adding her own tone, doing a lot and doing it to the end, Linh has begun to leave her mark.
In the end, the fault lies not with anyone, but with the broken marriage over the years, the ingratitude of time, the brokenness within the same generation and different generations. Each person seeks their own place, tries to find a connection, but no one builds it, just hopes, expects, then waits, or tries to fix it but in essence everything is rotten,” he commented.
Foreign newspapers praised the film's theme and execution. IndieWire wrote that the director used spiritual elements in the film in a restrained way, without scaring like a typical horror film, and was able to create impressive and unforgettable images right from his debut film. "This makes Linh a promising artist in the midst of the boom of Vietnamese cinema internationally."
Screen Daily commented that the work has a visually appealing part, a unique blend of feminism, national culture, and superstition, attracting the attention of film festival curators and audiences.
Besides the creative award, “Rain on butterfly wings” also won the IWONDERFULL Grand Prize (grand prize for best film) at the Venice Film Festival the same year. The film also went to many other film festivals such as in North America, Europe, and Asia. The film was purchased by CGV for screening rights in Vietnam shortly after. However, art films are often picky about audiences, so screenings are limited. The film crew hopes to receive the love and attention of the audience during and after its time in theaters./.
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