When the Tenth Month Comes

The story takes place in North Vietnam near the end of the Vietnam war. Duyên is an actress in a theatrical troupe whose husband is away fighting on the front in South Vietnam.  After going to the South for what should have been a visit to her husband, she learns that he had been dead for a year, killed in battle. With the help of Khang, a local schoolteacher and amateur poet, she tries to hide this devastating news from everyone, especially from her father in-law who is ill and has already lost his other son to war a few years ago. At Duyên's request, Khang forges new letters from her husband which she can then show to her family. Her lie becomes something that she hopes to be true; that her husband is here again and that the letters are real.

Through this process, Khang falls in love with the beautiful widow. This provokes anger among the villagers and Khang is forced to move on, transferred to another school in a different village. It is only when the soldier's death is officially announced  towards the end of the film that the villagers realise that they had misjudged the two protagonists.

• Lê Vân as Duyên
• Nguyen Hữu Mười as Khang
• Nguyễn Minh Vương as Thơm
• Lại Phú Cường as Duyên's father-in-law
• Trịnh Phong as Cháu Tuần

After authorities reviewed the screenplay numerous times, they forewarned Dang Nhat Minh that he would be allowed to make the film under the condition that the widow whose husband died in the war must not fall in love with the village's teacher. Dang Nhat Minh agreed but still tried to imply it in the film. The film screening for authorities went smoothly; however, the authorities raised another concern for a scene that looked "superstitious" where Duyen's late husband appears in long flashbacks or dream-like sequences, alluding to a ghost like figure. Dang Nhat Minh defended the scene, insisting that it was an essential characteristic of Vietnamese culture.[2]

The film was reviewed 13 times in total, making Dang Nhat Minh feel like he was a criminal dragged to trials after trials.[3] At last, the scene was allowed to be screened but had to be shortened.[2]

Originally released internationally under the name “The Love Doesn’t Come Back”, it was the first Vietnamese film shown in the West after 1975, and was selected for many international film festivals.[1]

The film is a recipient of numerous awards. It received the Golden Lotus Award and the Award for Best Director at the 1985 Vietnam Film Festival.[4] It was also the winner of the Special Jury Award at the 1985 Hawaii International Film Festival. At the 1985 Moscow International Film Festival, it was nominated  for the Golden Prize, and at the 1985 Nantes Three Continents Festival it was nominated for the Golden Montgolfiere.

In 2008, it was named “one of the greatest Asian films of all times” by CNN.[4][5]