A review of the new Indian film “All We Imagine As Light”
When we think of contemporary Indian cinema, we usually have in mind Bollywood movies with singing, dancing, action, romance. “All We Imagine As Light”, both written and directed by Payal Kapadia, could not be more different: it is an art house film that won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2024. Much of the film is actually set in the home of Bollywood, Mumbai, but this is not ‘the city of dreams’, rather ‘the city of illusions’ and indeed disillusions.
There are 21 million stories in Mumba, but this is simply those of three characters who all work at the same hospital: the nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti), her younger colleague Anu (Divya Prabha), and an older cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam).
Like any art house work, there is very little plot or action but a slow exposition of character and emotion. It is a film about friendship, more specifically about female friendship, even more particularly about the impact of different forms of patriarchy on these women and their friendship. Again like most art house films, some of it is opaque, even mystifying, particularly in the interaction between the nurse and a man whose life she saves.
It is difficult to make art house films in India and the funding for this one comes from a variety of European sources including France, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. Some in India itself have challenged the work as not so much an Indian film as an European art house film set in India. Whichever way you look at it, this is a rare work that is much to be admired and enjoyed.