• Among Satyajit Ray’s best work- a meditation on passions, politics, romance and writing
  • More leisurely paced than most of Ray’s work
  • Brilliant shot of camera attached to a swing to capture Madhabi Mukherjee’s face- this would be picked up by others including Truffaut and wes Anderson (Budapest)
  • The three leads are all brilliant but Madhabi Mukherjee in particular gives a spectacular performance- there’s countless examples but there’s a great moment when she realizes that she loves her cousin-in-law and she is in trouble. Her husband has a similar moment when he realizes that and the cousin-in-law’s has a moment of clarity surrounding his love of charulata as well
  • Unrealized love
  • The finale is justifiably famous. It’s a series of freeze frames of open hands. It’s up there with (and of course echoes the 400 blows.
  • Wonderful sequences of the way Ray shoots charulata eavesdropping on her husband telling her crush to get married.
  • The husband is annoying sensible and virtuous- the side story of the betrayal of money on the husband makes it harder on charulata and cousin-in-law
  • A long gorgeous tracking shot going up from the ground to charulata’s unblinking eye which turns into a long dissolve montage mix of her getting ideas to write her great article
  • The film doesn’t have the devastating form and symmetry of the music room
  • Ray does his own music—which is wonderful and re-used in Darjeeling limited
  • The subtle tracking shots of charulata walking around her house is so nuanced in the editing- it’s almost like a bresson film
  • Mindless card game for 5 minutes to show her life and boredom— she’s a prisoner in her chic house with elegant wall-paper and décor- even has her opera glasses to look out
  • Must-See film- top 5 of the year quality after one viewing