The Season of Guaves

Hoa is a single man in his fifties who regularly poses as a model for students at the art school in Hanoi. Since Hoa fell out of a guava tree as a child, he has been mentally backward: in fact he still lives in his childhood. All kinds of changes that have taken place have passed him by: the impounding of the family home after the departure of the French army from Hanoi, the death of his parents, his brother’s departure abroad. His youngest sister, now married, has taken Hoa under her wing and looks after him. Hoa is obsessed by one desire: he wants to return to his parental home. One day he climbs over the garden wall to pluck guavas. He is caught and arrested, but released again thanks to the interventions of a student who lives in the house. The girl is moved by Hoa’s sincerity and decides to let him live in his old home. Her father is not happy about this and thinks that Hoa should be in a psychiatric hospital. When Hoa finds out, he withdraws entirely into his own world.The old hand Dang Nhat Minh shot his film in sharp, eloquent colours that contribute to the emotional power of the film. The result is a personal yet historic film in which the childlike Hoa could symbolise Vietnam as a country that has not yet managed to free itself from its past.