Vietnamese film-makers continue to face opposition to including sex scenes in their movies.
A scene in Bi oi! Dung so!
Sex scenes have only recently appeared in the country’s films. While the first film under the Vietnamese Communist film industry debuted in the late 1950s, it took over two decades before the first sex scenes were added to a film.
Between 1986 and 1987, the film Co gai tren song or Young Woman In the River by director Dang Nhat Minh had some sex scenes.
Nguyet, acted by artist Minh Chau, who worked as a sex worker, was the main character in the film.
The hot scene was arranged in a context that Nguyet saved a soldier in her tight boat as if she was serving a client.
The scene was gentle and enough to depict the situation but the film still faced public criticism.
A scene in Co gai tren song
Recently, Bi oi! Dung so! or Bi! Don’t be Afraid! by director Phan Dang Di has stirred public controversy as it contained several sex scenes.
This was the first Vietnamese film to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. The film described daily life of members of a family in Hanoi and featured sex scenes for almost all the main characters.
The original version of the film was shown at the international film festival but the version used for domestic market experience a six minute cut of the sex scenes by the National Movie Appraisal Council.
Several local film critics savaged the film for its portrayal of sex scenes saying that it distorted the truth or showed a ‘biased’ view of society.