All We Imagine as Light
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“You have to believe the illusion, or else you'll go mad”
Overview
Payal Kapadia’s second feature film All We Imagine as Light is a gorgeous city-symphony of contemporary Mumbai, a rhythmic exploration of intertwined lives after dark. Prabha and Anu (Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha) are coworker nurses who live together and are unlucky in love: Prabha's husband went to work in Germany shortly after their arranged marriage but hasn't contacted her in over a year, while younger Anu is having a secret affair with a Muslim man her Hindu family would not approve of. The women try to help Parvaty, an elderly cook at their hospital, in her struggle against a mercenary real estate developer who plans to knock down her residential neighbourhood. Nighttime wanderings, furtive encounters, a trip to the beach and a ghostly encounter all play out in the poetry of the everyday.
Winner of the Grand Prix
“It’s a film that feels like a long exhale, the moment of unburdening after a tight embrace.”
“Universal and emotional enough to hypnotise anyone who has been alone in a city, or been spellbound by a film on the subject.”
“A miraculously subtle piece of work.”
Why You Should See This Film
The Grand Prix winner at Cannes, this is a must-see for any lovers of beautiful, heartfelt films that meander through metropolitan stories. Kapadia fully immerses you in a teeming city of over 21.6 million people, finding time for individual contemplation quotidian splendour in the crowd. Languid but never dull this is far more than just gorgeous vibes-based cinema, balancing sensuality and an undercurrent of crackling political tension as it asks what the future holds for Desi women in modern society. With flashes of transcendence that recall the work of Edward Yang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, All We Imagine as Light is an atmospheric journey that towards its end reaches a moment of pure mystery.
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