''The Musician at the Dragon Citadel'' ( vi, Long thành cầm giả ca) is a 2010 Vietnamese film based on

Nguyễn Du Nguyễn Du (; 3 January 1766 – 16 September 1820), pen names Tố Như () and Thanh Hiên (), is a celebrated Vietnamese poet. He is most known for writing the epic poem ''The Tale of Kiều''. Biography Youth Nguyễn Du was born in a gre ...

's poem, ''Long thành cầm giả ca,'' for the

Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi The Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi ( vi, Đại lễ 1000 năm Thăng Long – Hà Nội) was celebrated from 1 to 10 October 2010, the 1,000th anniversary of the foundation of the capital Thăng Long by the emperor Lý Thái Tổ. Many even ...

directed by Đào Bá Sơn. The film won the

Golden Kite Prize The Vietnam Cinema Association Awards, popularly known as the Kite Awards or Golden Kite Awards (Vietnamese: ''Giải thưởng Hội Điện ảnh Việt Nam'', '' Giải Cánh diều'' or ''Cánh diều vàng'') since 2003, is an annual awards c ...

for Best Feature Film, as well as Best Director, Actor, Editing, and Costuming.

Plot

The film opens with a scene of a little girl named Gái (Girl) reflecting in the village well. The girl was born in a peaceful countryside, whose mother used to be a singer, so she had to follow in her mother's footsteps. An acquaintance brought her to Thăng Long Citadel (Present-day

Hà Nội Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

) to learn how to play the đàn Nguyễn, she became a student of Master Nguyễn and was given a

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

(The name was Cầm). From the first time Master Nguyễn had met Cầm, Master Nguyễn saw in her, a special talent, her playing of the

đàn nguyệt The '' đàn nguyệt'' ( "moon lute", Chữ Nôm: 彈月) also called '' nguyệt cầm'' (Chữ Hán: 月琴), ''đàn kìm'', is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument.The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music - Page 262 ...

shows more emotion than her other counterparts. One day, a

rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

broke out and caused Cầm to leave Thăng Long (Hanoi). The poet Tố Như (Nguyễn Du) meets Cầm and they fall in love. But he already has a wife, and doesn't want to be with her, even when he meets her several times and has intimate sexual encounters with her later. Cầm wonders around aimlessly until she reached her hometown. During this time, the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and a Qing mandarin had captured her along with other people in her hometown. And the mandarin had forced her to play music for him. The Tây Sơn army ambushed the Qing garrison which allowed for Cầm to escape. After this, Cầm becomes a famous singer, while Tố Như began writing poems. Many years later, the two meet when they are both old, feeling sorry, he writes a poem (Long thành cầm giả ca) for her, and she jumps into a well (commits suicide). The movie ends with the narrator saying that on nights when the moonlight shines, people can hear mysterious sounds of a musical instrument coming from the wellKhúc hát nhạt Long Thành cầm giả ca
Nguyễn Trâm Anh, báo Sài Gòn tiếp thị 15.09.2010, 08:40 (GMT+7)

Poem

The movie itself is based on

's poem, ''Long thành cầm giả ca,'' where he writes about a beautiful female musician who lives in the Dragon Citadel (Long thành; Hanoi). The original poem was written in văn ngon (

literary Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

), but has been translated into Vietnamese. In the ending credits, the song heard is lines 249-263 of the Tale of Kiều,

Cast

* Quách Ngọc Ngoan as Tố Như * Nhật Kim Anh as Cầm / Gái (Lady) ** Hà Anh as Cầm / Gái lúc nhỏ (Young Girl) * Trần Lực as Nguyễn Khản * Bùi Bài Bình as Thùy Trung Hầu * Đỗ Kỷ as Nguyễn Đề * Mai Thành as Thầy Nguyễn * Nguyễn Anh Quang as Lý An Quân * Thi Nhung as Dì Xinh * Trần Hạnh as Ông lão kéo vó

References

External links

* Vietnamese drama films Vietnamese musical films 2010 films Films based on poems {{musical-drama-film-stub