The movie revolves around Queen Nam Phuong’s more than 10 years of living in the imperial city, the ups and downs of her marriage with Emperor Bao Dai, and the last years of her quiet life. The movie will be shot in many places with Hue as the principle setting.

“The Last Queen” is the cinema project which was announced in early May by Mar6 Studios.Co., Ltd. at a meeting with the leaders of the province. This news evokes in cinema lovers lots of curiosity and excitement.

 Kien Trung Palace in Hue Imperial City is chosen to be the main setting of the movie

Kien Trung Palace is the main setting

According to director Bao Nhan, a representative from the film crew, “The Last Queen” is the cinema project which has been invested and prepared carefully since 2020 now. The script is based on details selected from the giant source of knowledge and historical documents about Queen Nam Phuong in particular and the Nguyen Dynasty in general.

The movie is not to reflect a historical period of the nation, but to depict vividly a real figure in the history. The movie is inspired from the two books, “Love Story of Queen Nam Phuong,” a novel by Hoang Thi Hao and “Queen Nam Phuong,” a historical study by Le Lan Khanh. 

The film focuses on Queen Nam Phuong’s more than 10 years of living in the imperial city and her marriage with all happiness and sadness with Emperor Bao Dai until the day when the whole royal family left Imperial City to start leading a quiet life. In any circumstances, Queen Nam Phuong always shone with knowledge, virtue, talent, and ingenuity to survive the storms of the era.

According to director Bao Nhan, along with the story of Queen Nam Phuong, the film also depicts Empress Dowager Tu Cung, an example of Vietnamese traditional women with all her love and sacrifice for her family as well as her efforts to preserve cultural values and beliefs of the royal family in particular and the nation in general.

The movie is planned to be shot in 2025 at many places, but Hue is the main setting with Kien Trung Palace inside Hue Imperial City as the highlight, where Emperor Bao Dai, Queen Nam Phuong and their princes and princesses lived. 

In the meeting with the leaders of the province, the filmmakers, through the movie, want to introduce Vietnam with countless beautiful sights and a long traditional history, and to promote tourism in Hue, contributing to the plan of developing Hue culture in general, making Hue a big film studio for Vietnam. 

The movie also honors Vietnamese women who always shine in any circumstances with their beauty, knowledge and soul, spreading positive values and significant messages about love, freedom and peace. 

Creating favorable conditions for the film crew

To ensure everything goes smoothly, the film crew kindly requests support in terms of paperwork and favorable conditions at places where they intend to shoot. They also need help from experts and historical and cultural researchers so that they can depict accurately and lively royal values.

Talking to the film crew, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Standing Vice-Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, affirms that he will support and create favorable conditions for the film crew to shoot the movie in the province, contributing to introducing and promoting the beauty, history, culture and people of Thua Thien Hue to people in and out of the country. He also suggests that the film crew should consult historical researchers to ensure accuracy.

Binh hopes the movie “The Last Queen” will exert a good effect, promote and spread the values of Hue and Hue people to people in and out of the country, making Hue a film studio and a destination for film directors and moviemakers. 

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of Culture and Sport Department, he himself has read the initial script and thinks it’s good. The script shows filmmakers’ good knowledge of the historical figure. He says he will give his comments as well as support to the maximum. He also advises to avoid some details and matters in the script that may be too sensitive.

Story and photo: NHAT MINH