Charulata (1964) (Criterion Collection) UK Only [Blu-ray] [2021]

The film is superb and this DVD is near spotless.

The quality of this recording was not good and the sub-titles were at times not easy to follow as they were displayed too briefly and also were not entirely accurate.Having said that, it is possible to follow the story very easily as it is straightfoward.

A sensible and profound film from one of the world greatest directors.

Love this film so much. Delivered quickly, all in good order :)

Writer-director (and music composer!) Satyajit Ray’s 1964 film is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1901 novella Nastanirh (The Broken Nest) and provides an intimate account of one woman’s emotional turmoil in late 19th century India. At its heart, Charulata, which features a stunningly nuanced performance by Madhabi Mukherjee as the titular wife, is a love story, or perhaps more accurately a romantic triangle, in which the lonely Charulata finds herself torn between her older husband and businessman, Shailen Mukherjee’s Bhupati, and his young cousin, Soumitra Chatterjee’s workshy ex-student, Amal, but Ray’s film is much more than this. And even if Ray’s film comes across as progressive in the way it addresses many of the prevailing social attitudes, the film’s 19th century socio-political backdrop is a clear influence on the film’s wider thematic richness – which includes such (often inter-linked) issues as female independence (embryonic feminism, if you like), differing class aspirations, arranged marriages, generation gap expectations and the film’s portrayal of artistic vs. political considerations. What is also remarkable about Ray’s film, however, is that it never gets bogged down in any social or political theorising, such concerns being channelled through Charulata’s take on life, as well as the film being peppered with moments of light-hearted comedy.Ray skilfully sets us up immediately to feel for Charulata’s life predicament. The film’s predominantly set-based outlook contributes to Charulata’s feelings of claustrophobia and entrapment and is showcased during the film’s famous opening sequence as the alienated wife wanders, bored, around her and her husband’s palatial home, espying life outside through the slatted windows using a pair of binoculars (as Charulata follows the progress of people outside from window to window we also get the feeling that Ray may be emulating a stop-motion zoetrope). Bhupari’s well-meaning husband is totally tied up with running his progressive political newspaper (The Sentinel) and it is only when Bhupati’s younger cousin, Amal, comes to visit that the businessman hits on the idea of asking Amal to encourage his wife’s interests in art and literature – even if, when Charulata eventually has a story published (unbeknownst to Bhupati), this fosters resentment in her husband. The film’s face-off between politics (‘reality’ as Bhupati sees it) and art (which both Amal and Charulata favour) is encapsulated in the memorable arm wrestling sequence between the two cousins. The film’s take on the ‘class gap’ is illustrated via the comparison between Charulata/Amal and the 'less sophisticated’ Manda, the wife of Charulata’s older brother, Umapada, who Bhupati has asked to help him with the running of the newspaper. The progressive (anti-government) attitude that Bhupati exudes coincides with the film’s depiction of Britain’s imminent (1880) general election, at which the liberal Gladstone triumphs over Disraeli’s traditionalist tory.There are thus multiple narratives and themes going on here in parallel and Ray writes and directs with much subtle flair and, in general, with a deceptively light touch. Underlying everything though is Charulata’s dilemma as she becomes drawn, partly via her artistic bent, to Amal. A beautiful (and visually dynamic) scene is that where Charulata is rocking on a children’s swing as her yearning eye is drawn to a (no doubt lower class) mother and her infant child. It is as Charulata’s feelings of guilt emerge that the film’s other major theme, that of family, comes to the fore – latterly as applying also to Umapada’s ultimate betrayal of his brother-in-law. The film’s (through, to a large extent, the period’s) social backdrop inevitably dictates how Charulata and Amal’s feeling of guilt must be resolved, culminating in the film’s famous freeze frame between Charulata and her husband. Throughout the film Ray has given us a peppering of music – mainly in the form of traditional songs, sung by Charulata and Amal – but it is this closing scene where Ray’s own tragic musical theme finally (as if we needed convincing!) demonstrates that the film-maker was truly a man of many talents.

Firstly, the actual film, as with all Ray films that are consistently excellent, this is one of his very best!I own the Artificial Eye DVD version and have also seen this film on at the BFI screens; I must say that the Blu-Ray version presented here is superb. The picture quality, subtitling and sound are a significant improvement on previous versions. Perhaps this version is from the key works of Satayjit Ray being restored over in the US.Well done to Artificial Eye and great value for money too!

Ray's most personal movie describes the unadulterated love and longing of an intelligent woman for her younger brother-in-law ,while the older husband is pursuing his intellectual passion of running a radical English language newspaper in Calcutta ,Charaluta is left a lonenly wife and woman where she has to confide and share her creative passions with her artistic and poetic brothrer-in-law ,it is diificult to define where this platonic relation crosses the line from admiration to love, but the emotion evolves naturally to blossom into something more than matronly affiliation ,whether there is an element of lust is left for the audience to decide with small trivial domestic details stamped with sensitive symbolic metaphors,but the relationship is a satire on the security and sanctity of the indian marriage, where even any such thought alone can be construed as a blasphemy ,Charu is adored by her husband who is one of the most respectable aristocrats in the higher social echelons in colonial Calcutta,their political intellectual discussions are just as enthusiastic as their exploration of the intricacies of mozart,ibsen ,literature ,piano and music ,this is a private sacred intimate milieu where a virtuous woman finds herself heeding thoughts which are ambivalent to her breeding ,she spurns herself and almost becomes a stranger to herself ,as if in self-loathing .The internal psychological strife is beautifully depicted through the reactions of other characters surrounding her ,the daily domestic chores and her observaviotions of the street life from her balcony,which is almost a voyeuristic pleasure .The Edwardian decor of the town house and the cloistered garden are the backdrop to this shy and mellow drama,it is too quaint to call it a romance and it is too bold in it's conclusion to be labelled as anything but a ground-breaking drama .It finally is a profoundly poetic look at the attitudes to matrimony and the development of a relation between a man and woman ,Ray is neither preacing nor sermonising ,he observes a slice of a domestic event and very naturally translates it upon the screen.The performances by Soumitra Chatterjee as the young man who escapes from the house to get away from his feelings and Mahdabi Mukherjee as Charulata are poetically realised against a desperate passion ,which is all consuming but still very potent ,the scene stealer is the husband who walks away with all the plaudits in the shocking yet liberating finale .The trivia here are more important then the most crucial details and the culture is explored with a sensitivity yet sophistication which makes this one of the greatest comments on human relationships in cinema ,that the fragility of this exquisite piece is streamlined to the very end in a perfect balance is to the credit of a ray of genius called SaTyajit Ray.