All We Imagine as Light
This tale of three Mumbai nurses, winner of the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Film Festival, displays the considerable talents of Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia
With her blistering documentary debut A Night of Knowing Nothing, Payal Kapadia announced herself on the world stage and she’s only going to win over more admirers with her beautiful and delicate sophomore feature, All We Imagine as Light.
On one hand, All We Imagine as Light is a poetic character study comprising the interwoven portraits of three women, all of different ages but brought together by their shared profession and having moved to Mumbai from elsewhere. On the other hand, Kapadia has created a lyrical ode to Mumbai at night, one that is slick with rain and cast in a dreamy blue hue that is reflected by the uniforms worn by the three characters. In the opening moments, disembodied voices talk about coming to the city – a city of dreams but also one of loneliness. Mumbai is drenched in the blue of sadness, the blue of distance, the blue of longing.
Each woman is struggling with their own form of dislocation or isolation. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is dealing with an estranged marriage, her husband having moved to Germany for work shortly after they were wed; she hasn’t heard from him in over a year, but she longs for intimacy. The younger Anu (Divya Prabha) has a boyfriend, but he is Muslim, so they sneak around in secret and worry about the impossibility of their situation. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is older and a widow who is being forced out of her shanty town home by developers who claim she doesn’t hold the correct papers.
Kapadia takes what might be two-dimensional stereotypes of women in Indian cinema and beyond – the waiting wife, the loose young harlot, the forgotten widow – and brings them fully to life. Here they are imbued with the energy of the city and, in turn, imbue the city with themselves. Prabha’s relationship with her absentee husband is complex and full of inconsistency; when a kitchen gadget arrives from Germany, presumably from him, she is torn between being grateful and angry. Anu’s reputation amongst the other nurses for promiscuity, meanwhile, belies the sweetness of her courtship with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon). Parvaty and Anu’s stories hint at political narratives going on around them, whether based on social standing or religion, but Kapadia remains true to these three women.
In the film’s third act, the action is relocated as the trio take a trip out to the small seaside village that Parvaty is from. Here Kapadia allows for some almost magical realist touches that allow for these women to experience some of the connection and support that they have not had – or understood to be – around them in the city. Expressive but subtle, All We Imagine as Light has a keen eye for the blueish ennui of the city and for the gestures and glances that proffer connections, whether fleeting or quietly profound.
Released 29 Nov by BFI; certificate 15