Screening of Charulata by Satyajit Ray
22 March 2014, 4:30pm
6 April 2014, 4:30pm
Arc cinema, Canberra, ACT
$14 adult / $12 conc. / $10 max pass holders, bookings (02) 6248 2000
Ticketing information
Charulata (1964, PG)
(The Lonely Wife) Dir: Satyajit RAY, India, 117mins, DCP (orig. 35mm)
West Bengali director Satyajit Ray established his international reputation with the The Apu Trilogy films of the late 1950s, but it’s the years of 1962-65 that mark the maturity of his filmmaking, and his ascendance to the status of one of the greats of world cinema. Two films, made in 1963-64, define this breakthrough, as well as a great creative collaboration that made this possible: his work with actress Madhabi Mukherjee.
Ray often spoke of Charulata as his personal favourite film. In 1901 Charu (Mukherjee) is the smart but idle, closeted wife of Calcutta newspaper editor Bhupati (Sailen Mukherjee). Bhupati encourages his cousin, the writer Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee) to devote time he himself can’t give to Charu, in the hope it will draw out her own ambitions as a poet. Naturally, the husband is blind to the possibility that the arrangement will also draw out the until-then deeply repressed erotic attraction between the pair.
See also:
Both Charulata and Mahanagar screen in new, 50th anniversary DCP restorations.
http://nfsa.gov.au/calendar/event/5164-charulata/
Two by Satyajit Ray: Mahanagar
23 March 2014, 2pm
13 April 2014, 2pm
Arc cinema, Canberra, ACT
$14 adult / $12 conc. / $10 max pass holders, bookings (02) 6248 2000
Mahanagar (1963, PG)
(The Big City) Dir: Satyajit RAY, India, 131mins, DCP (orig. 35mm)
West Bengali director Satyajit Ray established his international reputation with the The Apu Trilogy films of the late 1950s, but it’s the years of 1962-65 that mark the maturity of his filmmaking, and his ascendance to the status of one of the greats of world cinema. Two films, made in 1963-64, define this breakthrough, as well as a great creative collaboration that made this possible: his work with actress Madhabi Mukherjee.
Set in 1950s Calcutta, in Mahanagar Mukheree plays a housewife trying to unshackle herself from the constraints of Bengali traditions and the assumptions of the men who think they command them. Shy Arati takes up a job when her family has financial trouble. Husband Subrata (Anil Chatterjee) at first enjoys the extra cash, then he resents being usurped as the breadwinner. But his real rage is reserved for the way Arati’s new life and friendships increasingly take her beyond his authority.
Both Charulata and Mahanagar screen in new, 50th anniversary DCP restorations.
http://nfsa.gov.au/calendar/event/5165-mahanagar/
