32/32
In Mumbai, sister Prabha’s daily routine is disrupted when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate Anu tries in vain to find a place in the city where she can be intimate with her boyfriend… Director Payal Kapadia and the cast of All We Imagine As Light collaborate to share the most heartfelt reactions from Cannes and much more. ! The first Indian film to win the prestigious Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. This film will dramatize the many challenges faced by single women living in Mumbai and highlight their resilience. All the women are nurses in the same hospital, but that’s where the similarities end, as each has their own set of problems and, one might say, solutions. Desire, fear, regret and outdated patience are the emotions that constantly alternate as the plot quietly unravels. Perhaps the greatest asset is the screenplay, which offers unusually rich and thoughtful dialogues between the characters. The amount of action in the plot seems sufficient to provide a scaffolding for conversations in which people have room to be unusually honest and unguarded with each other, even while sleeping or posing. The acting is uniformly excellent and rises to the level of the writing – there are no false notes, although there are a few tantalising loose ends. The cinematography and editing also do a pretty good job of creating a reflective and somewhat detached atmosphere, complemented by the quiet intensity of the characters’ interactions. The detachment is heightened at several points where the film seems to have documentary elements or certainly feels that way. I wasn’t always crazy about the music and how it was scored, but this is a minor quibble that many may not be. I dispute another reviewer’s claim that this film was made as “awards bait”. I think there is too much heart and sincerity in this film to classify it as cynical or manipulative – certainly no more than any other film that attempts to tell an important story in a compelling and beautiful way. And this film carries with it many risks that I cannot imagine overcoming in an increasingly sectarian and puritanical India. I highly recommend All We Imagine as a light.
