All We Imagine as Light
Two Mumbai nurses and a cook attempt to forge their respective paths in Payal Kapadia’s Cannes prize-winner.
Image courtesy of BFI Distribution.
If ever a film fell into two parts, each displaying a totally different set of characteristics, that work is this much praised feature by India's Payal Kapadia which won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year. The acclaim that it has received must mean that for many the daring transition in style is wholly acceptable, but for me it meant that what for over half of its length had been a strikingly successful film then ceased to be effective.
All We Imagine as Light is Payal Kapadia’s second feature following four short films and 2021’s A Night of Knowing Nothing, the latter another Cannes prize-winning feature but one regarded as essentially a documentary. Its successor is a fictional work albeit one that starts off in a very naturalistic mode as it introduces us to three women working in a hospital in Mumbai. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) are both nurses while the older Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is employed there as a cook. All three of them had been born in villages but have come to Mumbai for what it has to offer. It has certainly been described as a city of dreams but in reality may, as this film suggests, be more a city of illusions. The opening scenes of the film lead into the main narrative through street scenes that are accompanied by anonymous comments on the soundtrack expressing various views of Mumbai by others who have opted to make a life there.
In the first half of All We Imagine is Light the presence of Mumbai is always felt but the film soon comes to focus on Prabha and Anu who are sharing accommodation. If in contrast Parvaty remains a less significant figure her situation nevertheless offers a reflection on the city. This widow has been in Mumbai for over twenty years but is now threatened with eviction due to development planned in the area and she lacks adequate paperwork to prove her right to remain. She does not want to impose on a married son and, having no choice but to accept what is happening to her, opts to retain her independence by returning to her own distant village situated in Kerala. Prabha and Anu, who have already sought to help, assist in the move when it happens by travelling down there with Parvaty and her luggage.
But before that stage is reached, we have a detailed portrait of Prabha and Anu and the rapport that they share despite their differences in age and outlook. Prabha, the older of the two, had been subjected to an arranged marriage but her husband had soon chosen to go off on his own and has for a considerable time been working in a factory in Germany. For a while he had kept up communication with his wife, but that has now fizzled out to the extent that Prabha wonders if he has abandoned her. When she receives a large parcel containing the anonymous gift of a modern rice cooker, she wonders if it is from him. But, if it is, it could either be a sign of his concern for her or a payoff made out of his sense of guilt. Whichever it may be, Prabha continues to think of herself as married to the extent that she seems wary when a doctor at the hospital (Azees Nedumangad) rather shyly starts to make advances to her.
In contrast to Prabha, Anu is ready to defy convention and has secretly acquired a boyfriend, Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon), who, being a Muslim, is not considered a suitable partner for her. When their liaison becomes known at the hospital, she is subjected to gossip, but in any case the fact that she is of a younger generation does not mean that her parents are any less intent on fixing up a marriage for her.
Stories of a kind are indeed unfolding here but All We Imagine as Light is not so much plot-driven as a detailed portrait of its central female characters. The actresses are excellent (that Kani Kusruti impresses will come as no surprise to those who saw her in a startlingly different role earlier this year in Girls Will Be Girls) and Kapadia’s key contribution is to make us share her identification with her characters by observing them close up and featuring shots that bring their faces into unusual prominence. If this part of the film is less than perfect it is only due to two misjudgments that are relatively minor and which stem from not allowing the naturalism of the piece to remain fully intact. One of these is the music score by Topshe which prominently features the piano and seems ill-suited to the visuals especially when it creates a rippling effect. The other is the decision to show stamped on screen in writing on top of the images the words texted to each other by Anu and Shiaz.
As mentioned already, Prabha and Anu eventually accompany Pavraty to her village in Kerala and at this stage the pace of the film slows. That is not inappropriate since the quieter rural life takes over from the bustle of Mumbai. But more importantly the tone of the film changes. First one notices a shooting style that hints at the possibility of Shiaz being present more as an apparition than in reality although that may not be the case. Then, far more specifically, another man is introduced (Anand Sami) whose involvement in the story becomes unquestionably hallucinatory. It’s done in a way that takes us into the surreal but no explanation of this switch is offered and for me any sense of artistic unity is lost. The Mumbai footage has led to Kapadia’s work here being compared by some to that of Satyajit Ray and fair enough if one thinks, say, of his 1963 film Mahanagar (The Big City). But the last third or more of All We Imagine as Light evokes the non-realistic aspects that often occur in the work of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and belongs to another world altogether. There is much in this film that is of a very high quality, but ultimately it fails to bring into effective conjunction the two very different modes that it displays.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Azees Nedumangad, Anand Sami, Lovleen Mishra, Tintumol Joseph, Bipin Nadkarni, Madhu Raja, Shweta Prajapati, Saee Abhay Limaye.
Dir Payal Kapadia, Pro Thomas Hakim and Julien Graff, Screenplay Payal Kapadia, Ph Ranabir Das, Pro Des Piyusha Chalke, Yashasvi Sabharwal and Shamim Khan, Ed Clément Pinteaux, Music Topshe, Costumes Maxima Bas.
Petit Chaos/Chalk and Cheese Films/ BALDR Film/Les Films Fauves/Another Birth/Pulpa Film/Arte France Cinéma-BFI Distribution.
118 mins. France/India/The Netherlands/Luxembourg/USA/Italy/Switzerland. 2024. US Rel: 15 November 2024. UK Rel: 29 November 2024. Cert. 15.
