Do you think this movie deserve the hate (details inside)

This was an old drama, but I have been thinking about it for a while and I want to know you guys’ opinion.

Back in 2018 there was a movie called The Third Wife yes, that’s the official English name. You can search it on Google. It’s set in feudal Vietnam and it’s about a woman who becomes a wife for a son of a rich family because his two other wives failed to give him a son. It’s about the drama she goes through in that home and how the pressure of having a son breaks the wives, and a lot of erotic situation involved. One of the wives in the house is only 13 years old, and played by an actual 13 years old. The movie was made to be an art project and screened in several film festivals and won some prices there, as far as I know.

Now I want to get this out of the way: at the time period of the movie, a 13-year-old in Vietnam was supposed to be fully matured and was eligible for marriage and having children. It was a social norm that few people questioned. So many people, myself included, didn’t have any problem with that character. The problem people had was with the 13-year-old actor who played the character. Like I said, there were a lot of scenes involving two people seducing each other. So when it was revealed that all the suggestive scenes with that 13-year-old wife were played by the actor herself, people were outraged. They said things like the movie was CP in art disguise or encouraging to pedophilia. There were still some people defending the movie. One argument for it was that the so-called “sex scenes” weren’t really sex scenes at all. It was just depictions of the wife trying to please the husband, so it was safe for a minor to play. The director came forward saying that she chose a 13-year-old for that role because she wanted authenticity, as she was trying to depict a dark period of history.

Nevertheless, the outrage was so big that the government banned the movie in Vietnam. It is still viewable in other countries. I heard that it got great reviews on movie sites, but no one outside of Vietnam has heard of it.

I haven’t watched the movie yet, but personally, I don’t know what to think of it. On one hand I really appreciate that someone tried to make an art movie that addressed a serious matter, and it was admirable given how most directors here only care about money. But on the other hand, the scandal really puts me off from giving the movie a try. And there were also speculations that the movie could actually be nothing but an award bait, and the scandal was staged to promote an otherwise forgettable movie.

What do you think about the whole thing?