ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT - Mark Reviews Movies

All We Imagine as Light, Sideshow / Janus Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 14, 2024

Everything one could want or need is in the city. That's the appeal of a place like Mumbai, the setting for most of All We Imagine as Light, which begins with disembodied voices speaking in multiple languages about what brought them to city. The reasons are what one might expect, more opportunities for employment and a sense of being part of something bigger, and others that have to do with the problems of living in a small village. One woman, for example, became pregnant, and in Mumbai, she wouldn't be judged or forced into something she doesn't want, as would likely have happened if she stayed in place.

The two main characters of writer/director Payal Kapadia's film can understand most of these reasons. Prabha (Kani Kusurti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) have found steady and, to some degree, fulfilling work as nurses at a local hospital. From the scenes we see of their job, they mostly tend to women—one haunted by the apparition of husband she never thought she'd have to see again, another who wants to stop having children but cannot convince her husband to get a vasectomy, a group of up-and-coming nurses who had better, according to Prabha, get used to the distinct odor of placenta, since it seems a lot of the work will revolve around birth.

Here, then, is a film that's very much about women, beyond the lives of our protagonists, who live together as roommates. Every significant and minor detail within Kapadia's screenplay seems to tell us something about the realities, frustrations, worries, and concerns of women in modern Mumbai and India more generally. Even the fact that Prabha and Anu, who share little in common except for their employment and gender, live together makes a point. Their work might be fulfilling, as they try to help ordinary people get through illness and pregnancy and any other health issue that might arise, but it doesn't pay enough for either woman to pay the rent and bills in the city.

For all the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, there is something else going on beneath its busy, opportunity-filled surfaces. Those voices we hear from the opening scene, for example, pop up again sporadically throughout the film, and the tone of what those people have to say about the city changes, as Prabha and Anu have to face that their lives might not be what they once dreamed of or want now.

One of those faceless voices says that life in Mumbai is like a great illusion to which everyone agrees, because to see it for what it is—as new apartment towers catering to the wealthy are built on the ruins of more affordable housing, leaving the workers who build them without a place to live—might be to realize a terrible truth. They have escaped to a place for opportunity and to become part of something, and those opportunities are steadily diminishing, forcing them out of that something.

None of this is explicitly stated in Kapadia's film, because she's far more subtle as a filmmaker than that. This is simply a story about the lives of two people, wrestling with issues and doubts about what their lives have been and could be, as well as how much society has defined and put forth limits to what those lives should be. In the film's own limited frame and perspective, it creates a much bigger picture.

As for the specifics of these characters, Prabha is married, although her husband—chosen by her parents in an arranged marriage—currently lives and works in Germany. One day, an anonymous package arrives at her and Anu's apartment. It's a fancy rice cooker, but without any label or note or anything else signifying who sent the package, Prabha can only deduce it came from her husband because the appliance was made in Germany. Is this what should be the most significant relationship in her life has come to?

As for Anu, she is dating Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon) in secret. That's because he's Muslim, and she knows people will look down upon and judge both her and the relationship. She's especially worried what her parents, who still live in the small village Anu came from and send their daughter photos of men who could be candidates for marriage, will think. Whether Anu tells them about Shiaz or doesn't say a word, the result could be the same, since the parents seem determined to ensure Anu marries a man whom they find acceptable.

The two roommates aren't particularly close, even if Prabha cooks dinner for them both each night and Anu is genuinely appreciative when her roommate agrees to lend her some cash. As Prabha tries to figure out what to do about her marriage (A kind and attentive doctor, played by Azees Nedumangad, certainly puts the husband's physical and emotional distance in clear focus) and Anu tries to find a way to spend some alone time with Shiaz, the reason for occasional tension between the roommates becomes apparent. Anu is the kind of young woman Prabha once was, before her life was determined for her, and Prabha is the type of woman Anu could become, if she allows her own life to be planned out for her.

The film simply observes these two, finding their connections to each other and to the greater sense of discontent, fear, and dismissal being faced by everyone, especially women, around them in the city. All We Imagine as Light is patient and compassionate about its characters, and when it finally provides a change of scenery for the women, the ways in which they can finally be free to do and say what they want here is quite the cathartic experience.

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