I attended last night’s 10:15pm Debussy screening of Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine is Light,” the first film from India, in 30 years, to compete for the Palme d’Or. The overwhelming consensus is very positive on this dreamlike film. Positive takes are coming in from Screen, The Guardian, IndieWire and Variety
Some believe it might win the Palme d’Or, which I don’t suspect will happen. This is a lovely film that’s all about the vibes — either you get onto its wavelengths, or you don’t. It might split the jury.
This is the story of three nurses: Prabha (Kani Kusruti), Anu (Divya Prabha) and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam). Each has come to Mumbai, from smaller towns, because opportunities in the big city are more present. Prabha and Anu are roommates, the latter is younger, naiver, and late on rent. Anu has a Muslim boyfriend, Shiaz (Hridu Haroon), and she tries to keep him hidden from her parents who have someone else in mind for an arranged marriage. Meanwhile, the older Parvaty, a widow, is being threatened with eviction.
Prabha is in shock when she receives in her mail a brand-new rice cooker. Was it sent by Prabha’s husband? He went to Germany after their wedding and never contacted her again. As she worries about her husband’s potential and sudden reappearance, a doctor is at the hospital shows romantic interest in Prabha. In a lovely scene, he hints at his attraction, but, still thinking about the rice cooker, Prabha rejects him.
The three leads give beautiful and delicate performances. These women’s lives are depicted by Kapadia in moody and dreamy fashion. Mumbai is also depicted as the bristling and chaotic city that it is — one which, despite the chaos, causes a real sense of isolation in our three women.
The film hits its peak when Parvaty, who just quit her job at the hospital, goes back to her home village, a beach town, and brings the other two with her. Away from Mumbai, they finally find inner peace and tranquility in a place where "the mystical forest becomes a space for their dreams to manifest."
Shot by Ranabir Das, the film is gorgeous to look at, brimming with authenticity and the surreal nature of the setting. Just two features into her career, Kapadia shows great assurance in her filmmaking. This is slow, poetic and risk-taking cinema that pays off in its dazy and hypnotic finale.