Do Thi Hai Yen: the love of a quiet American

In 2003 I saw The Quiet American. A movie about early US involvement in Vietnam. But also a movie about love. The love of two men (one American, one British) for a Vietnamese woman. Though I didn't think the movie was a masterpiece, lately it has been in my mind a lot. (Probably because I think about Vietnam all the time nowadays! ;-)) While doing some research, I found out it was the first major Hollywood film to be shot in Vietnam (most other American Vietnam movies were shot in the Philippines) and Vietnam has welcomed The Quiet American as an accurate portrayal of early US involvement in Indochina.

Do Thi Hai Yen plays the Vietnamese girl that has to choose between the two western men who both love her. I really tried do find out more about her on the web, but there is little to find. I could not even find a birthdate.

She played in two other films before The Quiet America (Song of the Stork and At the Height of Summer), but did not make any film after it. If anybody has news about this Vietnamese beauty, feel free to post it in the comments.

Some galleries:
The Quiet American official site
The Quiet American official Spanish site (Skip intro and go to multimedia)
Gallery @ OutNow.ch
Gallery @ FilmFashion.nl
Google Image search

Articles about the film:
Vietnam welcomes The Quiet American @ BBCnews
The Quiet American: The film that scared a studio

I too enjoyed this film a lot. Do Thi Hai Yen is quite a beauty and the political part of the plot was very educational too.

Minor correction to your review though. It was not two Americans hoping to win Phuong's love. Brendan Fraser played the American, but the other character played by Michael Caine was a journalist from England.

Keep up the great work! Love your site!

Thanks for your correction! It was ofcourse 2003 when I saw it ;-)

But I will see Vietnam with my own eyes in 7 days :-)

And thanks for the compliment. We also try to cover the non-nude Asian beauties. It's not ALL about nudity here at Asian-sirens! ;-)

I absolutely loved this film. Great soundtrack too (from modern soundtrack master Craig Armstrong). Yen was lovely too of course! :-)

BTW, her given name (Yen) is one of the most difficult Vietnamese names to pronounce IMHO - and that's saying something! It's pronounced something like ee-en, believe it or not! Vietnamese names follow the Chinese convention of surname first, then prefixes (Thi - pronounced tee - is used for girls) and given name last.

One more tidbit: more than half the Vietnamese population have the same surname (Nguyen - pronounced ngwin)! As a result, it is now the most common surname in Australia's two largest cities (Sydney and Melbourne)!

Lee, you got the point, man!

Just saw the movie for the second time, and liked it much better than the first time I saw it. Now that I have seen Vietnam with my own eyes, the story really got to me!

That's more like it! It's a great film - it really captures the mood of the time and the place.

I agree gents! One of my favorite films.
:-)

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dejaquack, I am afraid you don't know what you are talking about.

Robin, this guy has been making rude comments today with other models as well. I have already asked him to show some respect. Sheesh!

Lee, can you look into this? If it's abusive it has to go.

I don't really have time to go through them at the moment, but they don't look good to me - you can make the call.

Okay, I am quite busy also, but will try to check them all.

I have removed the two comments that I consider to be unacceptable. Most of dejaquack's other comments aren't great either, although I don't think they quite cross the line into unacceptability. I'm sure all of our readers would appreciate it if he could make more constructive comments in future!

A personal note to dejaquack: if the unacceptable comments continue I will delete your membership.

Thanks Doc!