India Song

It's unfortunate that this film is not available in vhs or dvd form for the viewing public. India Song is a great example of Duras' reworking of the traditional relationship between sound and image. The emphasis on the sound track is a crucial aspect of the film as the viewer is actively challenged to figure out which voice belongs to which character and the chronology of events in the narrative. Ofcourse, this separation of sound and image can be troubling for some and unfortunately Duras' films are often labeled "difficult" . But for those up to the challenge you won't be disappointed.

This film was a real surprise when I discovered it in the early '90s and it became one of my favorites. I enjoyed the general slow pace of the film, its dreaminess and yet its inner violence.It's exactly what I imagine tropical climates do to influence your mood .In the same vein Marguerite Duras made "L' Amant ", a semi autobiographical film.

Anyway, you CAN find the video VHS-SECAM . I "stumbled" on it in a bookshop in Montpellier a couple of years ago. Here are the details :

India SONG Ecrit par Marguerite Duras

Entretiens Dominique Noguez Réalisation Jérôme Beaujour et Jean Mascolo Benoît Jacob Vidéo 2001

Duras is a good writer, but a terrible film maker. When you watch one of her movies - and I have imposed a few to myself - you know you will watch somethings that has some interesting ideas, but that lacks any movie making skill.

This film which is supposed to take place in India, but which was filmed in France, does good efforts for a virtually no-budget film. I love the opening scene, and the silent, narrative atmosphere led me into thinking this would be a good film for about 15-20 minutes.

The main problem is that it gets old quick. at first it's a bit captivating, some original way to make a movie, etc. After 20 minutes you just want anything to happen, you want it to be well filmed, you would like the actors to do more than what a wax figure could do. After an hour and a half I wanted to shoot myself. You need some guts to finish this film, if you want my opinion, mostly because of how long it is, but also because of how bland it gets.

If you're looking for a typical movie India Song is definitely not for you. The highly experimental movie is both long and smashes a lot of the rules for conventional cinema. It teaches YOU how to watch IT.

The plot, such as it is, is about the wife of a French Ambassador living in Calcutta. Bored she engages in a series of love affairs. This information is provided completely in narration that plays over a series of ghost like images in which we see the ambassador's wife dance and walk and flirt with a handful of other people in a mostly empty and abandoned looking mansion. It's essentially a ghost story.

I have nothing against slow films or unconventional ones but this simply wasn't for me. Delphine Seyrig acts out the part of Anne- Marie Stretter, the wife, but watching her I was reminded of that OTHER famous movie she did in 1975, also experimental and unconventional and also directed by a woman who was a cinematic powerhouse: Chantal Akerman. In terms of plot there's not a lot to tie Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielmann to Marguerite Duras' India Song, but the two feature a similar style of long shots and repetition. That said I find Jeanne Dielmann by far the easier of the two to watch. While that movie is hypnotizing and entrancing Duras' movie feels stale, like a book of hers that was never quite able to come to fruition.

A movie that perhaps only Duras devotees or Seyrig fans will love.

Cult films, with a slow speed, filmmakers have produced a lot in Europe, many in Brazil and Asia, and some even in Hollywood, industry that excels by the narrative cinema of fast cuts and action and comedy and adventure without complications in the plot (and now increasingly chroma key due to the billionaire success of the superhero movies Marvel & DC Comics). And why such a huge phrase?! To contrast, my friends, to contrast (this i learn in the brief workshop "Creative Writing for Comments on YouTube"). Because Marguerite Duras masterpiece apparently fits the cult movie label that no one watched because they collapsed from boredom. But they made a mistake. Hassle is a missing element in this good piece of film. The off-screen narration is the perfect guide to the dance of characters flowing across the screen and above all to the coming and going of the protagonist Anne-Marie Stretter (Delphine Seyrig) in doubt about what love she would choose. Pure cinematographic poetry (man, this deserves a hashtag ... #PureCinematographicPoetry... okay, I liked it).

ps: translation brazilian portuguese/english made by Google (blame on it)