Korean-Vietnamese film Golden Bride, starring Nhu Quynh, has bagged a plethora of international prizes. Quynh bagged the best foriegn actress prize from South Korean SBS Television. Quynh shares how she feels about her success.

Your reportoire includes many Vietnamese films made in co-operation with other countries. What attracted you to the role of the Vietnamese mother in Co Dau Vang?

It’s a simple but moving story about a South Korean mother looking to find a wife for her son. On a visit to Viet Nam, she meets Jin Joo Nguyen, a Korean-Vietnamese girl. Jin Joo wants to go to South Korea to look for her father, whom she has never met. Jin Joo’s mother is suffering from a disease that is gradually making her blind, and Jin Joo wants to bring her father back before her mother completely loses her sight. Jun Joo decides to marry the Korean man.

Jin Joo helps her husband overcome both mental and physical pain. Finally, her wish comes true and she finds her father. Jin Joo brings her mother to South Korea to reunite the family.

The screenplay exploits the familiar theme of family happiness and the conflict between mothers and daughters-in-law but the film is full of empathy. The different cultures of two countries, Viet Nam and South Korea, are introduced very delicately in the film.

I was also attracted to the project because it gave me the chance to work with some famous South Korean actors. We learned a lot from each other.

What did you think about South Korean film techniques?

I was impressed by the way my South Korean colleagues work, they were very professional, especially Lee Young-ah, who played Jin Joo. She is famous, but always behaved modestly, worked seriously, complied with the crew’s regulations and took pain to study. She was very hard-working when studying Vietnamese. At the film studio, she read the film script again and again. I never saw her arrive late to the set.

The way serial dramas are made in South Korea is quite complicated. In Viet Nam, a TV drama is filmed completely and then broadcast, but in South Korea, each episode is broadcast as soon as it’s shot. After the episode is aired, the producers collect public opinion about the show and use these ideas to write the next episodes.

I was really impressed by this system.

Actors’ dialogues were recorded on set. Four cameras were used at the same time, capturing different angles. In Viet Nam we only have two takes for every scene, but in South Korea each scene was shot tens of times before the director was satified.

Initially, you were supposed to appear in only five episodes, but you ended up doing much more. How did that happen?

As the first episodes were aired, my role was very popular. People identified with it. After the initial success, I was told that my part would be developed focusing on the love between the poor mother and her dutiful daughter.

It was great to return to South Korea four times to shoot the episodes. The director never restricted me. He said he relied on my knowledge of the psychology and behaviour of Vietnamese women. I could be creative and express myself freely.

What can you tell us about your experience working with the South Korean crew?

I was very moved by actress Lee Young-ah. She called me mum all time even when we weren’t in front of the cameras. I helped her to learn Vietnamese. We had a good relationship.

Before coming to Viet Nam, she learned to ride a motorbike but she was nervous when she saw the traffic in Ha Noi. For the Ha Noi scenes she was helped by a stunt double.

That was one happy memory. What I think is unforgettable, was the crew’s honesty and desire to help foreign actress likes me.

VietNamNet/VNS