A scene from controversial movie Vợ Ba (The Third Wife). — File Photo
HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has fined the crew of The Third Wife film VNĐ50 million (US$2,100) for wrongdoings during the distribution process of the film.
Culture Deputy Minister Tạ Quang Đông said the ministry’s cinema department discovered that the crew had released a different version of the film than the one that had been approved and permitted by the department in August 2018.
Before the film was shot, the department asked the producer to follow the script that the department had checked on April 27, 2016 and rechecked on June 8, 2016.
In August 2018, the complete film was checked again by the department and was granted permission to be screened in Việt Nam under the audience category for people 18 years old and over.
After the film was released in Việt Nam in May 11, it stirred controversy among domestic audiences due to sex scenes performed by Nguyễn Phương Trà My, who was only 13 at the time she played the film's role of the heroine.
The department then checked the screened version and all distribution procedures and discovered that the screened version was not the version granted by the department.
Đông said that, taking morality and traditional customs into account, the ministry decided that hiring a 13-year-old child to play the role in many sex scenes was unsuitable and illegal.
The ministry’s Inspection Department worked with the producer, Ba Sắc Cầu Vồng Ltd Company, and asked the company to sign a report admitting wrongdoings during the distribution process of the film.
“I think it’s necessary for the producers and directors to strictly follow legal regulations with great care in professional morality and delicacy. Otherwise, in spite of interesting art works, audiences will protest and boycott the works,” Đông said.
The movie is about a 14-year-old named May living in the late 19th century. She takes part in an arranged marriage and becomes the third wife of a rich man.
Before being screened in Việt Nam, the movie won various awards at international film festivals like the NETPAC award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2018 and the Best Art Film Project prize at the Autumn Meeting Forum for independent film producers, and other awards at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival, and the 66th San Sebastian International Film Festival. — VNS