Directed by Đặng Nhật Minh • 1984 • Vietnam
Starring Lê Vân, Nguyen Hữu Mười, Nguyễn Minh Vương

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Vietnamese films ever made, this deeply moving exploration of grief and trauma centers on Duyên (Lê Vân), a young woman whose husband is killed in Vietnam’s post-reunification war with Cambodia. Choosing to conceal the news of his death from her loved ones, she enlists a schoolteacher to help her maintain the ruse by writing letters that appear to be from her husband—leading her into a profound emotional conflict as she wrestles with guilt and loss. Graced with a lyrical feeling for the landscapes of the Vietnamese countryside, WHEN THE TENTH MONTH COMES gives empathetic voice to the experiences of those who must go on living in the face of war’s devastation.