Victor Vu restores feudal village

Director Victor Vu spent 80 days building the set and inviting 200 actors to recreate the life of a 19th century Northern village in "The Last Wife".

The director said that when he read the novel Ho Oan Han (original script by Hong Thai), he imagined Cua Ngop village - the main setting in the film - as a small village by the lake, at the foot of the mountain. After many days of surveying, he found the location at Ba Be Lake (Bac Kan). According to the crew representative, the film crew traveled more than an hour each day by car, boat, and on foot to reach the filming location.

The 28-person design team spent nearly 80 days to reconstruct the village. 200 extras participated in the large-scale scenes depicting the villagers' lives. "I set a criterion that when looking at the monitor screen, the scene must be similar to the documentary images and ancient paintings I consulted," said the director.

A corner of the 19th century village scene in "The Last Wife". Photo: Huy Tran

The crew put their heart and soul into the costumes and accessories. Victor Vu read many sources, including the book Technique du peuple Annamite, written by Henri Oger in 1908-1909.

The costumes of the three wives who married into the mandarin's family reflect the personalities and fates of each character. The First Wife (artist Kim Oanh) was chosen to wear a warm-colored ao dai, depicting the strictness and power in the family. The Second Wife (Dinh Ngoc Diep) wore clothes with a mixture of hot and cold colors, with elaborate patterns, expressing a straightforward and carefree personality. The main character - the third wife, Dieu Linh (Kaity Nguyen) - mainly wore light-colored clothes, implying her lowly background.

Victor Vu nurtured the script for two years before bringing it to the big screen. Unlike his previous work, the director did not exploit many historical or martial arts elements but instead portrayed a strong cultural aspect. He wanted to tell a love and psychological story based on an ancient domestic context but still close to today's audience. Victor Vu assessed that Kaity Nguyen was suitable for the female lead role - a young girl, fragilely beautiful but with a decisive personality, ready to fight in the face of challenges.

The film revolves around the life of Linh when she becomes the daughter-in-law of a mandarin's family. Living in a wealthy family, called "third wife", Linh is still treated like a servant by the first wife. Because of her poor family background, she is insulted as a coward, her body is covered with bruises from beatings. When Linh meets Nhan (Thuan Nguyen) - her childhood friend, the two have an affair, the beginning of a series of tragedies later. The film also has the participation of artists Quang Thang, Quoc Huy, Anh Dung.

Victor Vu was born in 1975, and is part of the wave of overseas Vietnamese directors returning to Vietnam to make films in the early 21st century, making his mark with films such as The War of Brides, Scandal, and I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass. In 2019, the film Blue Eyes - adapted from a novel by Nguyen Nhat Anh, directed by Victor Vu - grossed 180 billion VND, making it into the top 5 highest-grossing Vietnamese films of all time.

Hoang Ha (According to vnexpress.net)

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