The Third Wife

Name: The Third Wife
Genre: Drama
Released: May 15, 2019
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 71
Cast: Lam Thanh My, Long Le Vu, Mai Thu Huong Maya, Nguyen Phuong Tra My, Nguyen Thanh Tam

2019

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Film Movement | Release Date: May 15, 2019 | R

Starring: Lam Thanh My, Long Le Vu, Mai Thu Huong Maya, Nguyen Phuong Tra My, Nguyen Thanh Tam, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Tran Nu Yên-Khê

Summary: In 19th century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy landowner Hung. Soon she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May’s hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love andIn 19th century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy landowner Hung. Soon she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May’s hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love and its devastating consequences, May finally comes to an understanding of the brutal truth: the options available to her are few and far between. [Film Movement]… Expand

Director: Ash Mayfair

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 96 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Jessica Kiang

May 13, 2019

This is the rare debut that derives its freshness not from inexperience but from a balance between compassion and restraint that most filmmakers take decades to achieve. Read full review

Beatrice Loayza

May 13, 2019

An unabashedly reticent arthouse film, The Third Wife takes its time drifting through May’s coming of age, which will try the patience of some audiences. But those open to the seduction of Mayfair’s understated drama and its beautiful natural imagery will be handsomely rewarded. Read full review

The Playlist Andrew Bundy

May 16, 2019

Ash Mayfair’s debut film is an astonishing achievement for a first feature, one not every film-goer will be able to stomach, but a work every caring cinephile should see. Read full review

Alan Ng

May 13, 2019

Mayfair’s The Third Wife is a powerful reminder that the oppression of women is not strictly a Western problem and everyone—women or men—want to be free to choose their own path in life. Read full review

Hau Chu

Jun 24, 2019

Some viewers may want delicacy in a period film about women navigating a world in which they’ve been pitted against one another. But maybe, Mayfair suggests, we need the blunt reminder: The issues that women were confronting in the Vietnam of the 1800s — a world in which they’re considered property more than people — aren’t all that different from today. Read full review

G. Allen Johnson

May 29, 2019

What we have here is a small, delicate mini-masterpiece, and bright new talent behind the camera. Read full review

Neil Young

May 13, 2019

Mayfair's picture feels like the work of a seasoned veteran rather than a newcomer, but this isn't necessarily a compliment. It's sensitively poetic and tremulously delicate to a fault, with every beat seemingly accompanied and underlined by an intrusive score from Ton That An which is heavily freighted with plangent strings and mournful piano notes. Read full review

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User Reviews

sachineldho

Jun 1, 2019

Truly beautiful and artistic. Ash Mayfair takes us on a tour to 19th century rural Vietnam to show us the oppression of women prevailed during that time. I wathced this movie when it was screened in 24th Kolkata International Film Festival.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ajzeg01

Jan 23, 2020

A beautiful and tragic drama from Vietnam. Again, this movie premiered in 2018 at TIFF but had its wider release in 2019. This movie is slow, but it’s gorgeous and very well-acted. There are so many striking visuals and tons of symbolism. This movie is also very sad and very disturbing. It’sA beautiful and tragic drama from Vietnam. Again, this movie premiered in 2018 at TIFF but had its wider release in 2019. This movie is slow, but it’s gorgeous and very well-acted. There are so many striking visuals and tons of symbolism. This movie is also very sad and very disturbing. It’s about a young teenage girl in 1800s Vietnam becoming the third wife of an older man in hopes to give him a son, and it just gets worse from there. This movie deals with some very heavy subject matter and it certainly isn’t for everyone, it can be pretty uncomfortable, but I thought it was great and think it’s worth a watch. It’s depressing, but very good.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Beecee

Jun 21, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is truly a beautiful and evocative film on the position of women on a 19th century Vietnamese plantation. However, there is little dialogue and the film is rather slow moving. Due to the sexual content of the film, it is disturbing if a 13-year old played the lead, as I have read. The ending manages to be confusing and rather off-putting, with the main character's motivation unclear.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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