Charulata **** (1964, Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee) – Classic Movie Review 9341

Writer-director Satyajit Ray’s 1964 black and white Indian film Charulata [The Lonely Wife] is a witty, penetrating tale of passion and a delicate portrait of a middle-class marriage breaking up, set in India in 1879.

Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee), the fed-up titular wife of the wealthy Calcutta publisher Bhupati (Shailen [Sailen] Mukherjee), falls for his cousin, the happy-go-lucky poet Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), whom she vainly hopes will truly love her for her own real qualities and spur on her literary career.

It is deliciously acted and superbly handled by Ray (who won the best director award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965).

Charulata is adapted by Ray from the story Nastaneer by Rabindranath Tagore.

Subrata Mitra shoots in black and white.

Also in the cast are Shyamal Ghoshal, Gitali Roy and Dilip Bose.

Merchant Ivory Productions produced a restored version in 1995, which was released in US cinemas by Sony Pictures Classics in 1995.

It was released on DVD in The Criterion Collection in 2013 in the US.

Charulata [The Lonely Wife] is directed by Satyajit Ray, runs 124 minutes, is made by R D Bansal & Co, is released by Amanda Films (1965) (UK), is written by Satyajit Ray, based on the story Nastaneer by Rabindranath Tagore, is shot in black and white by Subrata Mitra, is produced by R D Bansal, is scored by Satyajit Ray and is designed by Bansi Chandragupta.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9341

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