“All We Imagine As Light” Review
Kani Kusruti leads a trio of outstanding actors in “All We Imagine as Light”, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
If there’s one aspect of film viewing that I was I was better at, it’s checking out more films from outside the United States, especially ones that aren’t told in English. Granted, it’s hard enough to check out the many films that are made stateside but so many of the greatest films of today aren’t being made in this country. They’re being made in Japan, in France, in Brazil, in Tunisia and India. From the lattermost country, writer/director Payal Kapadia has made waves with her first venture into feature-length narrative filmmaking: “All We Imagine as Light”. Garnering the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and earning two Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director, “All We Imagine as Light” has certainly earned these accolades with a heartfelt story of sisterhood.
Following the lives of three hospital employees in Mumbai, “All We Imagine as Light” depicts their struggles as they become more intertwined. The youngest of the group, a nurse named Anu (Divya Prabha), is secretly seeing Shiaz (Hridu Haroon), a Muslim man, which would infuriate her parents if they found out. It also doesn’t sit well with Anu’s roommate Prabha (Kani Kusruti), who is married but hasn’t heard from her husband in over a year since their marriage was arranged and he works in Germany. Along with the hospital’s cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), who faces eviction from her home so that her building can be made into a skyscraper, the trio try to find their way as their problems seem to grow larger and larger.
Through this film, Kapadia explores the bonds of sisterhood with such a strong quality with these three women. For American audiences, I believe that the reliability of Anu, Prabha and Parvaty very much resembles the characters of the classic film “Steel Magnolias”, albeit told in a more intimate way. With all three leads delivering such compelling performances with this genuine sense of heart as they fight, make-up and relate so strongly to each other. It’s a marvelous depiction of friendship and how survival in this world often hinges upon it.
“All We Imagine as Light” feels very much like a slice-of-life that seems ordinary but that’s what makes this tale so extraordinary. A good slice-of-life film can serve as a mirror where you see both what you would like but also might be faced with imperfections that you can either ignore or that can mentally cripple you. Kapadia has delivered just that and every scene of the film is dripping with atmosphere and texture, courtesy of cinematographer Ranabir Das, that gives everything such a life to it. Watching “All We Imagine as Light” is like living in a very specific moment and it’s not the greatest time or the worst time but you want to stay in that moment nonetheless. There’s something inexplicably comforting about it all.
The only thing I can find about the film that I don’t like doesn’t even have anything to do with the film itself. It’s the decision of the Film Federation of India to not even submit the film for consideration for the Best International Film Oscar at the upcoming Academy Awards with the logic being that because the film was an international co-production with producers in France, The Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg as well as India, that it shouldn’t represent India which I find to be ridiculous. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the culture of India and what makes a piece of art Indian but when the film’s director, most of the actors, most of the crew and the setting are all Indian, I think it deserved its shot at the Oscars. It reminds me of how “Anatomy of a Fall” wasn’t France’s submission for Best International Film, probably because of director Justine Triet’s criticism of French President Macron in her Palme d’Or acceptance speech. However, the Academy nominated that film in five other categories, including Best Picture, with Triet and Arthur Harari winning Best Original Screenplay. Hopefully a similar scenario is in “All We Imagine as Light”’s future because a film of this quality deserves its rightful recognition. It’s an excellent piece of filmmaking and showcases why international cinema is so essential to the lifeblood of the film lover.
