People's Artist Nhu Quynh: Full of the taste of old ginger

(Baonghean) -Rarely is there an actress of the same generation as People's Artist Nhu Quynh who has had a long and shining career like her, even though they had a golden past of talent and fame. But Nhu Quynh is like a flawless gem, always radiating a halo of pure light and imbued with Hanoi culture and the elegance of the people of Trang An...

People's Artist Nhu Quynh.

With an expressive face, delicate acting, sensitive, easy to get into character, she successfully portrayed the character Net in the movie "When the time comes, come again" (Den hen lai len). This is a rather heavy psychological role, especially for a 20-year-old actress who has to play the role of a girl from Quan ho village with a stormy life and a difficult and painful love story. Recalling that day, her parents were so worried about their daughter that they had to take Nhu Quynh to see Professor Hoang Nhu Mai, to have him explain about the status of rural girls in Kinh Bac region in the 1930s and 1945s. What was a wedding running away from a funeral? Helped her gain basic knowledge about the character she played. And not in vain for the director's search, the movie "When the time comes, come again" went down in the history of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema, not only winning the Golden Lotus Award at the Vietnam Film Festival (1975); The main prize at the Karlo Vary International Film Festival (1976) also brought Nhu Quynh the "Best Actress" award at the Film Festival.

At that time, although she had just entered the film industry, Nhu Quynh already had many valuable qualities of a professional actress: in addition to her natural talent, she had a passion for art and a sense of discipline and serious work ethic. She always held the script close to her to learn her lines, because without knowing the lines, how could she express her role with subtle emotions? Nhu Quynh recalled the memories: "First Love" was the first film of the North filmed in Ho Chi Minh City right after the liberation day. At that time, everything in the South was extremely strange to Northern artists, especially the lifestyle of Saigon youth. This was the challenge for Nhu Quynh when she played the role of Diem Huong, a female student with a deep and extremely romantic love. Because since childhood, like the girls of the North at that time, Nhu Quynh was also raised with a strict moral concept, if not feudal, so it was not easy to get into the role right away. She had to watch many movies, read romantic novels about old Saigon, and meet with university students to understand their psychology and way of life. “But when I played the role, I still had many shocks!” she recalled.

A scene from the movie "When the time comes, it's time again".

While her fame was soaring, the Film Studio where she worked was at risk of being wiped out, with no more films to act in. Floundering in the changing market mechanism, the life of an artist at that time was precarious and extremely difficult. Therefore, although she was a great artist, she had spent more than 10 years as a "movie star" becoming the owner of a small coffee shop named "Quynh" on Bat Dan Street to earn a living for her family (her husband is the famous photographer Huu Bao; her two daughters, Dan Huyen and Dan Khue, are of school age). The "drinkers" were all artists and fans, coming to chat or just to see "Diem Huong" and "Miss Net" in real life. Her single-lidded eyes lit up with a kind smile: "No one discussed whether the coffee was good or not, they only talked about the films I acted in."

It seems that her relationship with cinema was tied to fate. Right when she was busy worrying about food and money, directors still came to her so that she could burn herself out, continuing to affirm her shining talent through each new character in the films "Ben khong chong", "Chuyen cua Pao", "Choi voi" when she was 50 years old with two prestigious awards at home and abroad. She was chosen by directors to participate in films with foreign elements: when French filmmakers invited her to play the main role in the film "Dong Duong", or "Be Da" of Japan. Then came a series of films by overseas Vietnamese or foreign directors, such as: "Xich lo"; "Mua hanh thang"; "Saigon solar eclipse"; "Two girls and the owner of the medicinal garden"; "Hat mua roi bao lau"; “Golden Bride”... Nhu Quynh became the actress with the most foreign film collaborations. She is the bridge that introduces Vietnamese cinema artists to the world, just as her colleagues commented, “the older the ginger, the spicier it is!”

In her artistic career with more than 30 roles, Nhu Quynh was honored to be awarded the title of Meritorious Artist (1988) and then People's Artist (2007) by the State and the award for Best Foreign Actress in Korea, presented by SBS Television at the end of 2007. Rarely is there a famous actress who has a humble, elegant life and carries the "Hanoi style" like her. Talking about Nhu Quynh, we can call her a "Hanoi person" in the best sense of the people of Trang An.

Le Lan

47, Dang Thuc Hua, Vinh