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Best movie of this year hands down!

Wonderful character development!

The Worst Film Ever

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Ray tagged Charulata as "one of his favourite films" and as an observer and a Ray-addict, I would call it his most perfect creation out of his 29 films-old filmography. Not a frame is out of place, all the subtle nuances are mesmerisingly captured and detailed almost like a Mughal portrait.The film follows the suppressed sexual emotions of Charulata, whose loneliness is seen through the carelessness of her husband for her and through brilliant metaphors like a bird's cage or the iron grills of a window. Emotional repressions lead to a tumultuous upheaval when Amal, her husband's cousin storms into her life. Ray sets his work in the late 19th century when patriarchal society did not allow a woman to vent out her feelings and adds a distinguished and unique dimension to Rabindranath's novella, "Nashtanirh". The film unfolds in a majestic pace, never too slow and never too fast, through intelligent dialogues and a masterstroke of a screenplay - scenes like the one where Charu uses her binocular to gaze at Amal and then at the mother carrying her child, almost throw the viewers off their feet. Ray's direction is aptly supported by a a viciously sublime performance by the protagonist. Madhabi Mukherjee makes Charulata her own, her spiralling gazes and the movement of those eyes give it the aura of a silent film. She makes Charu an embodiment of most women in that age and even in the future - the angst, the intensity and the pangs culminate in one of the best performances by an actress that the world has ever seen and without doubt, the best in the country. Soumitra Chatterjee amply supports her and brings a beautiful mix of innocence and masculinity to the role ; so does Sailen Mukherjee and the other actors. Tagore's songs set the mood for every emotion in this movie.All in all, its a movie for every hardcore enthusiast who loves cinema and a masterpiece from the master himself. Never again can this magic be recreated!

Recently, I received some very nice emails from someone who appreciated my reviews (there's at least one!) and they recommended I look into the films of Satyajit Ray--particularly "The Big City" and "The Lonely Wife". I am happy I listened, as I really liked both films--particularly "The Big City". The best thing about these films is their ordinariness--how they are about everyday folks and the films are not glamorized or Hollywoodized in the least. The unfortunate thing, however, is that both are pretty lousy prints with relatively poor captions--and both appear to be directly copied from a videotape.Now what I saw in the film and what the summary says are not exactly the same. Perhaps this is due to a mistranslation, or perhaps when the husband says 'brother' it's a diminutive term and the person he's saying it to is actually his cousin, but I sure was under the impression that Amal was Bhapati's brother.Charlu is a lonely lady back in India in 1879. Her husband is the publisher of a newspaper--so she lives in relative luxury but doesn't see enough of him, as he's very busy. So, Bhapati gets the idea to have his family come and live with them. The brother-in-law seems like a good choice to move in with them, as he says he wants to work on the paper and contribute. Amal, however, is a recent college graduate and is not at all interested in doing any work--just write. Quickly Amal and Charlu become friends, as both of them have a common interest--writing. However, this familiarity combined with Bhapati's absence spell disaster--as does trusting the brother-in-law with the paper's finances. There's more to the story than this, but it's best you see it yourself and see it unfold.The acting, writing and direction are very nice--mostly because it seems awfully real. And, if you like Neo-realist films or stories by Majid Majidi, then you should really like "The Lonely Wife". Not great but very, very good.

This is one of the most beautiful and memorable films I've ever seen. Like all Ray's films, it moves slowly and gently. No one says what they think or want; it's all implied in the action. The cinematography is superb. There's a memorable scene where Charulata is swinging gracefully under a huge shady tree, singing a Bengali version of Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon - so incongruous in Calcutta, but beautifully capturing the way the family was at the cutting edge of the cultural collision between traditional Bengali values and the new world of their British rulers - while Amal, the younger brother-in-law who pays her the attention her husband doesn't, is lounging on the grass reading, dappled in sunlight. Love is everywhere, yet not a word is said. The story is based on Rabindranath Tagore's novella Nashta Nir (The Bird's Nest), which in turn is based on real life, a tragic event in Rabindranath's life. His elder brother Jyotindranath, a playwright, painter and failed businessman, found too little time for his wife Kadambari, who was Rabindranath's age, childless, and infatuated with literature - a very unusual combination for a Bengali woman in that age. (The Tagore women were pioneers: they showed themselves in public, loved the arts, one was the first woman to ride a horse on Calcutta's Maidan, its inner city park, another the first Bengali Hindu to wear a blouse under her sari). The young Rabindranath was Kadambari's companion, and she his Muse, to whom he dedicated his early books. How far it went is not clear, but eventually his father married Rabindranath off to a child bride, and a few months later Kadambari committed suicide.

This film is a real masterpiece. The characters are developed, there are no caricatures, everybody has different aspects that make them fully human. And the story, while simple, is profound. It describes a certain time, a certain people, a certain culture, yet it could happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone.Ray, like Bergman, Kurosawa, John Ford, and a few others, are directors who are totally immersed in their own culture, can clearly see its flaws, can clearly see the shortcomings of their people, yet they love them unconditionally. To them, no special effects are needed: all they need is a good story, and good casting.