Receiving a Special Presentation at LFF following its Cannes success, All We Imagine As Light is a serene film of self-determination and acceptance set in bustling Mumbai.
The city of Mumbai is as striking a character as the female protagonists in All We Imagine As Light. Chaotic and teeming with life even in the middle of the night, it holds the stories of millions of inhabitants. Many of them have arrived from elsewhere in India, and several voices share their own background as we drive through the streets.
All We Imagine As Light goes on to give a snapshot of three stories from the city – all solo women, each at a different point in her life, and all working at the same hospital together.
Nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti), almost a mother figure to the younger nurses, is a quiet, almost shy woman who gives little away but cares deeply about her patients. Sharing her apartment is the younger nurse Anu (Divya Prabha) lively, outgoing, and in love with a boy of a different faith. And we also meet hospital cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), about to be evicted from her home of 22 years because she doesn’t have the papers to prove she is entitled to live there.
Each of the women will go on their own journey of despair and acceptance and finish the stronger for it.
Kusruti has the most difficult task. Nurse Prabha says little unless it really matters, and she internalises a lot, yet Kusruti ensures she is not inscrutable or a blank page and does not keep the audience at a distance. It’s a far cry from Girls Will Be Girls which appeared just a few weeks ago, where she’s the exuberant and over-friendly mother (compare and contrast – she’s stunning in both).
All We Imagine As Light‘s director is Payal Kapadia, and she clearly knows Mumbai well. She also has a lot of sympathy (but not pity) for her three main characters, giving them each a moment to tell their story and decide how it is going to end. Describing the score as gentle piano jazz music might give an impression that Kapadia wanted to bring some quirkiness to the film, yet you will just have to take my word that somehow, it really works.
All We Imagine As Light has quietly remained with me for a long while after viewing, and it may just turn into a classic.