At the Height of Summer

The Vertical Ray of the Sun by Tran Anh Hung (2000) is a movie that revolves around three sisters, Suong, Khanh and Lieb, Suong being the eldest, Khanh the middle, and Lien the youngest. The film is set in Vietnam’s Hanoi, and with cinematographer Pin Bing Lee (who also did the cinematography for movie In The Mood for Love), viewers of The Vertical Ray of the Sun are presented a luscious, pastel and dreamy Hanoi, with a tinge of amorousness charm to the tropical city. The movie seems timeless, it felt like it had suspended in time and moves at an unhurried pace, as how Lien slowly stretches and dances across the room with tender grace.

While watching the movie, I really wished I could be in Vietnam as the place is so alluring with the laid back appeal, compared with the hectic life I have in Singapore right now, I would love to have the mean to teleport to Hanoi and have a cup of iced coffee, sipping away the beverage and just people watch. I loved the colours of the movie, the minty green, the caribbean blue, the nostalgic yellow, and also how gentle lighting brings out the lush tropical hues. From what I have read on the internet, another translated title for the movie is “At the Height of Summer”, yet if you allow me to do a figurative breakdown on the movie title, “The Vertical Ray of the Sun” would be derived from the lighting that is very frequently seen the film – the vertical rays of sunlight that shines through the settings in the movie (the trees, the branches, the leaves, the reflection from water and more) which cleverly lights up the characters faces, reaching the effect of not being too harsh a lighting and also bringing out the tropical elements present in the film.

The lighting from the water reflects on the faces of the three sisters.

The sunlight pouring from the trees lights up Khanh's side profile.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun has a storyline, but not really a plot. The story flows, but the director does not account the details or answers for the characters’ aftermaths in the movie. I feel that the story of the three sisters seem to recount different stages in a female’s life, from the romantic young adult, the blissfully married, and the “make it or break it” post-marriage. Lien’s emotional incest with her brother depicts a young female with idealistic views in love and romance, while her subtle glances and speech exhibit a flirtatious ability that only young women have in abundance, since youth is always considered as the capital for beauty. Khanh portrays the happiness of a woman being married, with the joy of being pregnant, yet the seed of doubt and worry that her husband cheated on her, her apprehension of her husband losing interest in her due to her pregnancy. Suong has a child in her marriage but the marriage is getting stale, she and her husband both loving someone else, however they have to stay in the marriage for the sake of their child, alongside the responsibility and the notion of “marriage”.

Isn’t that a reflection of the very template many women go through in life? Holding idealistic views of love, nonetheless having the distress of not being able to find someone as perfect; then falling in love and getting married, next arises the problem of your spouse cheating on you; then the musty state of marriage, conjuring the question of whether to stay in the marriage or end it for both parties. Considering this point of view, I can understand why there is no answer from the movie with regards of the sisters’ circumstances – there is no way or no one who can account for such dilemmas in life, the director leaves it open for the audience to ponder away on these thoughts.