Why is 58-year-old People's Artist Thuy Huong still hot on social networks?

From the Quan Ho girl that director Dang Nhat Minh "chosen" to be in the movieMissing the countryside,People's Artist Thuy Huong is still mentioned with admiration by the audience after 30 years.

The film is set in the 1980s, a time when Vietnam's economic and social situation was facing many challenges, when the gap between the city and the countryside began to become clear with young men moving to the city, leaving the villages to women, children and the elderly.

Shocked by makeup, People's Artist Thuy Huong burst into tears when looking in the mirror

Few people know that the role of People's Artist Thuy Huong inMissing the countrysidestarting with a somewhat odd statement by director Dang Nhat Minh. When he visited Thuy Huong's house, instead of praising her carefully made-up beauty according to the habit of Quan Ho singers welcoming guests, the director said:Thuy Huong, can you go wash your face?

The statement surprised Thuy Huong, but from then on, her fate changed completely. After washing her face and changing into brown peasant clothes, director Dang Nhat Minh hugged her and exclaimed:"Oh, here is my Ms. Ngu!".

At that time, the director had changed many actors but could not find a suitable character for the female lead. With a keen eye, he realized what Thuy Huong herself admitted: "Until now, I still feel that Ms. Ngu is me because I was also born and raised in the countryside."

The first experience in front of the camera shocked the artist. To transform into a rural woman, Thuy Huong had to be made up to look older than her real age with black powder on both cheeks and dark lips. "Suddenly, I looked at myself after makeup and felt so ugly that I burst into tears," Thuy Huong recounted.

But at that very moment, director Dang Nhat Minh called to film the scene where Ngu received a letter from her husband saying that he "would not return". The real tears of the woman in front of the mirror mixed with the pain of the character created a classic scene that was "shot in one take" - a rare thing in cinema.

The most difficult scene that Thuy Huong had to face was the scene where Nham drew water for her sister-in-law to bathe at the well, which the artist described as "the most intense scene in the film" with "the ambiguous struggle between the desire of a woman and her brother-in-law". This scene was also filmed successfully on the first take.

What's special is that the jobs Thuy Huong does in the film are things she has experienced in real life, from cutting rice to threshing rice with a fork on slate.

The audience forgot her name and excitedly lifted up People's Artist Thuy Huong.

Missing the countrysideReleased in 1995 with the co-production between Japan's NHK Television and Vietnam Cinema Association Film Studio, based on the short story of the same name by writer Nguyen Huy Thiep, creating impressive records.

With more than 60 prestigious international film festivals such as Busan (Korea), Toronto (Canada), Chicago (USA),Missing the countrysideis a Vietnamese film that holds a record for the number of times it has been invited to international film festivals. At the 11th Vietnam Film Festival in 1996, director Dang Nhat Minh received the awardBest Directorfor this work.

But perhaps the most memorable moment was the audience's reaction at a film festival in France. "The Vietnamese audience completely forgot Thuy Huong's name and asked for Ms. Ngu and they lifted Huong up and threw her up. It was a very happy feeling," People's Artist Thuy Huong recalled.

Success ofMissing the countrysidenot only comes from the natural acting but also from the unique filmmaking philosophy of director Dang Nhat Minh. Instead of long dialogues, the film focuses on colorful and artistic visual language. Every small detail is carefully calculated to express the character's mood, such as the scene where Nham goes to catch frogs but does not catch them when he sees two frogs in love.

People's Artist Thuy Huong, 58 years old, is still "hot" on social networks.

Nearly three decades after the success ofMissing the countryside, People's Artist Thuy Huong still maintains a special appeal, especially on social networking platforms.

The artist still performs a lot and records clips of her singing without accompaniment for Quan Ho lovers to learn. The reason she chooses to sing without accompaniment instead of with accompaniment is because she hopes that students can grasp "the vibrato, the rhythm, and especially the breathing".

According to People's Artist Thuy Huong, the reasonMissing the countrysidehas a strong vitality because it is very true to rural life at that time. It is this authenticity, combined with natural acting talent and the constant sharing and dissemination of art on modern platforms, that helps People's Artist Thuy Huong maintain the love of the public even at the age of 58.