37/32
In Mumbai, nurse Prabha is distraught when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate Anu struggles in vain to find a place in the city to reunite with her boyfriend. Director Payal Kapadia and the cast of All We Imagine As Light reunite to share the most heartfelt reactions from Cannes and more. !. The first Indian film to win the prestigious Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. This film dramatizes the many problems faced by single women living in Bombay and highlights their resilience. All the women here 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 dogged patience are the emotions that constantly alternate as the story 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 the opportunity to be unusually honest and unguarded with each other, even if they are lying or pretending. The acting is consistently excellent and rises to the level of the writing – there are no false notes, although there are a few tantalizing loose ends. The cinematography and editing also do a great job of creating a reflective and slightly detached atmosphere that complements the quiet intensity of the characters’ interactions. The detachment is heightened at several points where the film seems to incorporate documentary elements or definitely feels that way. I wasn’t always crazy about the music and how it was invoked, but this is a minor quibble that many may not be aware of. share. I dispute another reviewer’s claim that this film was intended as “awards bait”. I think there’s too much heart and honesty in this film to be classified as cynical or manipulative – certainly no more than any other film that aims to tell an important story in a compelling and beautiful way. And it takes a lot of risks that I can’t imagine would be well received in an increasingly sectarian and puritanical India. I highly recommend "All We Imagine as Light."