Struggling through Marguerite Duras’ India Song (1975) I kept trying to entertain myself. I thought of the well-known Four Word Film Reviews website, and did my best to apply its philosophy and style. Below is the result.
“Quasi sexual self-indulgent bull”
Here’s the gist. The bored wife of a 1930s French ambassador to India struggles to retain her marriage (I think). Two unseen narrators recall and discuss her interactions within her large Calcutta mansion. At some times these voices explain what happens on screen and at others they seem to be discussing nothing in particular. The two principle characters spend long unbroken takes in front of a mirror, saying almost nothing to each other. At one point Michael Lonsdale (who I recognized as the guy from Moonraker (1979)), playing another diplomat, proclaims a love for the woman, shrieking his declaration from off-screen. Admirers of this film call it nonlinear poetry. I think it’s telling that its soundtrack, recorded separately from the visuals, was reused, completely unchanged, for Duras’ next picture. This film is one piece of art that was pretentious and heavy-handed enough the first time around.
Language: French/Bali
Runtime: 120 Minutes
Available @ Youtube.com
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