Charulata (The Lonely Wife)

“Charulata, Satyajit Ray’s most nearly flawless film apart from his great Apu trilogy, is a flowing, opulent tale that seems to be lit from inside like a velvet-lined carriage with a lantern in it rocked by a hot monsoon wind. The film carries an exquisite period flavor of the 1870s in Bengal…Charulata is the heroine of the film which was adapted from a Rabindranath Tagore novel. Her husband is a bearded intellectual who runs an anti-British radical newspaper. To keep his bored wife amused, he sends for his young cousin Amal, who encourages her to write. A powerful sexual bond grows between them, though it is never acknowledged openly….Charulata is beautifully written, and sometimes very funny. Along with everything else, the picture is a fascinating fable about the bequest of Empire in India. The film is triumphant in its comprehension of a period.” — Penelope Gilliatt, The New Yorker

Film Details

Country: India

Language: Bengali, English

Year: 1964

Running time: 117 min

Format:
35mm

Director: Satyajit Ray

Screenwriter: Satyajit Ray

Producer: R.D. Bansal

Cinematographer: Subrata Mitra

Editor: Dulal Dutta
Source: Academy Film Archive

Films and schedules may be subject to change.

Modern Cinema’s Founding Supporters are Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein. Generous support is provided by Nion McEvoy and the Susan Wildberg Morgenstein Fund.