I have this very bad, yet useful way of seeing a film. I don't turn off the movie while watching it or I haven't walked out in the middle of the movie in a cinema hall. I hate to do this because- one, I paid for it, two, showing disrespect to an art (no one can catch my neck and ask), three is I don't want to put myself in a situation and end up to say “I don't like the film”.
Film is a art, if you don't like a film, then you are not seeing the film as perceived by the maker. So I try not to use my glasses, rather try to use the filmmakers glasses.
India Song is one such movie, that fits comfortably into the above mentioned third category. The reason, not because of the content, but the way in which it is executed. If you are looking for a very unique way of storytelling then India Song is for you, but don't blame if it tests your nerve.
The story is about a highly adventurous women, Anne Marie, the wife of the French Vice-Consul in India. When I say highly adventurous I meant it in having many post marital relationships. The story is set in pre-independence Calcutta, India. It is said that the boredom in the foreign land takes her to the other men in the consul.
Spoilers Ahead- The story is simple, right, but its not conventional way of storytelling. Absence of dialogues, the film is full of voice overs, usually by someone, not necessarily the characters in the screen. They sometimes narrate of what's happening on the screen and sometimes brief the feeling of the characters and their past stories. It is like a poetry and sometimes I felt like reading a 1000 page novel from the 300th page. At first, I thought these voice overs will get over as they are common in French films, but it just went on for the entire film.
There is no such thing called acting in this film, most of the characters are in a somber mood, walking, drinking, smoking. The camera seldom moves and if it does it pans very slow. You get ample time to read the frame as if you are watching an art painting. This is one of the rare experimental film you can ever see.
Some scenes from the film,
INDIA SONG (Marguerite Duras, 1975) (NSFW) from Spectacle Theater on Vimeo.
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