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still The Lonely Wife (Charulata) (Satyajit Ray, IN 1964)

Charulata (The Lonely Wife)

Satyajit Ray / IN, 1964 / 59 min.

This subtle chamber play is Satyajit Ray's favourite film, replete with beauty, tenderness and lyricism. A busy newspaper owner largely neglects his wife, the graceful, intelligent Charulata, until his charming niece Amal moves in with them.

poster The Lonely Wife (Charulata) (Satyajit Ray, IN 1964)
Charulata is set, as are many of Ray's films, in his home town of Calcutta (currently Kolkota). In the early 1880s, at the height of the Bengali Renaissance, the educated middle classes were restless. There was talk of India being granted self-government within the British Empire – perhaps even actual full independence. These ideas appeared in the liberal, English-language weekly Bhupati Dutta owned. Too wrapped up in politics, he neglects his wife Charulata. When his sensitive, literary-minded cousin Amal arrives, Charulata is once again inspired, yet also dissatisfied with her life.

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Details

Not (yet) rated

Director

Satyajit Ray

Production year

1964

Country

IN

Original title

Charulata (The Lonely Wife)

Length

59 min.

Language

Bengali, Bangla

Subtitles

ENG

Format

DCP

Part of

Satyajit Ray

His name has been embedded within the canon for decades now; nevertheless, his films haven’t been screened in the Netherlands for a long time. Eye is screening a cross-section (thirteen digital restorations) of Satyajit Ray’s oeuvre, as well as a nationwide release of Ray’s famous feature debut, Pather Panchali (1955).

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still The Lonely Wife (Charulata) (Satyajit Ray, IN 1964)
still The Lonely Wife (Charulata) (Satyajit Ray, IN 1964)
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