Charulata (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review
Sinopsis
This film about a woman’s artistic and romantic yearning by Satyajit Ray (The Music Room) is set in late nineteenth-century, pre-independence India. It takes place in the gracious home of a liberal-minded, workaholic newspaper editor and his lonely, stifled wife, Charulata (The Big City’s Madhabi Mukherjee), whose exquisitely composed features mask a burning creativity. When her husband’s poet cousin comes to stay with them, Charulata finds herself both inspired by him to pursue her own writing and dangerously drawn to him physically. Based on a novella by the great Rabindranath Tagore, CHARULATA is a work of subtle textures, a delicate tale of a marriage in jeopardy and a woman taking the first steps toward establishing her own voice.Made in 1964, this Satyajit Ray period piece is set in a Calcutta about to enter the last decade of the 19th century. Madhabi Muherjee, who also had the leading role in Ray's The Big City (1963), portrays a bored and neglected housewife whose husband, Bhupati (Sailen Mukherjee), is spurred by his passion for his political newspaper, The Sentinel, and not by his passion for her.
Bhupati is not a bad man, just a distracted one, and in an effort to appease his guilt, he asks his young and very handsome cousin, Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee) to encourage Charulata in her writing. After all, she is an intelligent woman and such an undertaking will keep her occupied. But he tells Amal not to let Charulata know of his mission.
Over the course of time the inevitable happens and the two fall in love, never revealing their feelings to each other. Bhupati finds out accidentally how his wife feels and is crushed. This isn't his only problem. Another relative, the bookkeeper at Bhupati's paper, embezzles money and compromises The Sentinel's chances for success.
Ray manages to create a highly charged atmosphere of restrained yet innocent lust. Inspired by New Wave film makers Truffaut and Goddard, Ray starts to experiment with his visual style. Madhabi Muherjee's performance is touching. If you love Ray, see this movie. If you don't love Ray, you will after seeing it. --Luanne Brown
