Mother’s Soul

Tâm Hôn Me

Mother’s Soul

Nhuê Giang Pham

»My aim was to make a realistic film about the life of women and children from underprivileged circles; a difficult life, full of adventure and disillusion in the end, but also filled with affection and humanity. […] The film is a manifesto for the right of children to be loved and taken care of in their families as well as in society. This is particularly true in Vietnam where a large part of the population lives in poverty and where children suffer the worst consequences of this situation.«
– Nhuê Giang Pham

Thu is an independent young girl and helps her mother Lan whenever she can. Together they sell fruit at the weekly market but the income hardly makes them a living. Things are different for her class-mate Dang. His mother has died. His father has remarried and Dang has been left with his grandparents. He yearns for the maternal love that Lan shows her daughter. But when Lan gets into a fraught relationship with a married man, Thu’s emotional needs are also neglected. She places her yearning for affection in Dang, assuming the role of the »little mother« for him. In the end, though, the two children cannot cope with the situation and their concerns.

Kindly supported by the Goethe-Institute Vietnam


Awards for ›Tâm Hôn Me‹
Best Leading Actress für Hoa Hoai Linh Phung, Dubai Film Festival 2011

Director / Script

Nhuê Giang Pham

Cinematography

Thai Dung Ly

Editing

Sylvie Gardmer

Sound

Franck Desmoulins

Music

Minh Luong

Cast

Hoa Hoai Linh Phung, Anh Hong, Bach Tung Lam Nguyen, Minh Quoc Thai Truong

Production

Vietnam Feature Film Studio

Contact

Vuong Tuan Duc

Portrait der Regisseurin

Nhuê Giang Pham

Nhuê Giang Pham was born 1957 in Hanoi. In 1981, she first graduated from Hanoi School of Architecture and then in 1987 from Hanoi School of Cinema. One of the few women film directors in Vietnam, she works for the Vietnam Feature Film Studio and elsewhere. She also teaches cinema history at the University of Social Sciences in Hanoi. Ever since her first film Le petit culi, Nhuê Giang Pham has received numerous awards and distinctions for her films – including the Silver Lotus Prize at the Vietnam National Film Festival and the Fipresci Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival for The Deserted Valley (2001).


Films by Nhuê Giang Pham
Lost 2012 | The Deserted Valley 2001 | Fled 1996 | Le petit culi 1992