The Present-Absence of the Empire in the Cinematic World of Trần Anh Hùng

This paper argues that while the French surrender at Điện Biên Phủ in 1954 officially
marked the end of French colonisation in Vietnam, the negotiation and
commemoration of this "sense of an ending" is far from straightforward. Evoking the
end of the French presence in Vietnam continues to be an ongoing process,
particularly as experienced and represented in the films and career of the director
Trần Anh Hùng. TAH is a Vietnamese-born French director widely recognised as a key
figure in Franco-Asian cinema, whose works about Vietnam include the so-called
Vietnam Trilogy - L'Odeur de la Papaye Verte (1993), Cyclo (1995), and À la Verticale
de L'Été (2000). While these have received productive academic interest, particularly
for his positionality as a Vietnamese diasporic director (Blum-Reid 2003; 1 Robson
20052), I focus here on his ‘non-Vietnamese’ features – I Come with the Rain (2009),
Norwegian Wood (2010), Eternité (2016), and La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (2023) –
to illustrate how the notions of fluidity and ‘ease’ characterise Trần’s negotiation of
postcolonial conditions, navigating beyond rather than against the colonial past. In
transcending national boundaries, spanning Vietnam, Japan, and France, Trần’s
diverse oeuvre challenges the conventional trope of the postcolonial émigré. Through
interdisciplinary discussions guided by cultural studies, film theory, and postcolonial
discourse, I discuss Trần Anh Hùng’s legacy and consider how, as a Franco-Vietnamese
director, he navigates his hybrid identity within the post-colonial context. This
exploration will encompass instances of silence or apparent indifference towards the
'liminal' presence of the empire whenever the keyword 'Vietnam'/'Vietnamese' is
mentioned in French culture.

1
Blum-Reid, Sylvie (2003). East-West encounters: Franco-Asian cinema and literature. Wallflower Press.
2
Robson, Kathryn (2005). France and "Indochina": Cultural Representations. Jennifer Yee (ed). Lexington Books.
Trang T. Nguyen is a first-year Ph.D. student in French Studies at The University of
Manchester. Prior to her Ph.D., she completed her Master's degree in Intercultural
Communication at The University of Manchester. Her current project attempts to
investigate Vietnamese female representation in French, Vietnamese and American
films with diasporic elements.