THE THIRD WIFE

“The Third Wife” (Vietnam, 2018) by Ash Mayfair is set in rural Vietnam in the late nineteenth century. Mây, fourteen years old, is brought by boat to the estate of a wealthy landowner, whose third wife she is to become. Her standing in the household depends on whether she bears a son. Between the first wife, Hà, who runs the household, and the second, Xuân, who has only daughters, Mây learns the rules of the house – and discovers in Xuân a closeness that this order does not allow for. When she becomes pregnant, the waiting for the child’s sex begins.

Mayfair shot her debut based on the story of her own great-grandmother, in long, quiet shots amid rice fields, silk and water, without explanatory dialogue. At the Toronto International Film Festival the film received the NETPAC Award in 2018, and the Otra Mirada Award in San Sebastián. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2018.

Shown at the 2018 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2018 · Film Archive