Product Details

• Actors: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee, Shyamal Ghoshal, Gitali Roy
• Directors: Satyajit Ray
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 2, 1997
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304587384
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,251 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #74 in	Video > Drama > Love & Romance > Crumbling Marriages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
Made in 1964, this Satyajit Ray period piece is set in a Calcutta about to enter the last decade of the 19th century. Madhabi Muherjee, who also had the leading role in Ray's The Big City (1963), portrays a bored and neglected housewife whose husband, Bhupati (Sailen Mukherjee), is spurred by his passion for his political newspaper, The Sentinel, and not by his passion for her.

Bhupati is not a bad man, just a distracted one, and in an effort to appease his guilt, he asks his young and very handsome cousin, Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee) to encourage Charulata in her writing. After all, she is an intelligent woman and such an undertaking will keep her occupied. But he tells Amal not to let Charulata know of his mission.

Over the course of time the inevitable happens and the two fall in love, never revealing their feelings to each other. Bhupati finds out accidentally how his wife feels and is crushed. This isn't his only problem. Another relative, the bookkeeper at Bhupati's paper, embezzles money and compromises The Sentinel's chances for success.

Ray manages to create a highly charged atmosphere of restrained yet innocent lust. Inspired by New Wave film makers Truffaut and Goddard, Ray starts to experiment with his visual style. Madhabi Muherjee's performance is touching. If you love Ray, see this movie. If you don't love Ray, you will after seeing it. --Luanne Brown

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sheer magic.... the perfect film, March 14, 2002

By	greatbong "greatbong" (Stony Brook, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Supposedly inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's real life "friendship" with Kadambari Devi, his brother's wife, this is Satyajit Ray's best work . Whatever be the inspiration for the story, there can be no doubt that this is the closest you can get to a perfect film.

Ultimately its a story of trust, betrayal and loneliness set in the 19th century. The characters consist of Bhupati-- a crusty feudal lord, with liberal views and a fascination with England and all things English. He is distant,aloof and preoccupied with british politics and running his newspaper which like him, is dry and unpopular. But he loves his wife dearly though has trouble expressing his love. Charulata, his wife, is imaginative, young and lonely in a loving through unexpressive marriage. And in the midst of this life comes the Bohemian brother of Bhupati- Amol, a budding author of doubtful literary credentials who comes in like a storm and catches Charulata's imagination and heart. Also coming into the mix is Charulata's evil brother who is out to embezzle Bhupati's money. What follows is a story of how love brings out the best in people, how trust and betrayal walk hand in hand, and of relationships broken and hearts that never heal.

Satyajit Ray is in his elements as one unforgettable scene melts into another-- leaving behind words not spoken, looks of smouldering passion not exchanged and tears that well up in the eyes and yet vanish with a smile....

A masterpiece...a Picasso on film

What more can one say.....

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for every serious film goer, July 29, 2001

By	Mystic Wanderer (USA) - See all my reviews

Did Amol really fall in love with Charulata, his brother's wife? I do not think so, though I wouldn't debate on that, especially without having read the story ("NoshtoNir" - by Rabindranath Tagore, written originally in Bengali) on which the film is based. And a film, as a medium of expression, just like literature, can be subjected to varied interpretations. That is never its source of greatness; and I'm definitely not the first one to realise that 'Charulata', as a film, is one such creation. So what is it that makes it stand apart?

A film is like art in motion, a dynamic canvas trying to create impressions in your mind through the images and sounds that it presents frame-by-frame. And this film accomplishes that task to a superlative degree; right from the start where, over a few scenes, lucid camerawork and adroit focus capture Charu's boredom and solitude with alacrity. Near-flawless compositions with occasional sprinkling of eloquent imagery, dominate the whole film. Some of the most moving images are: 1) A singing Charulata going up and down on a swing, her feet intermittently touching the ground while a contemplative Amol lies at some distance on the ground. The camera covers this shot both from the front when we see only Charulata and also from the side when Amol dominates the frame with Charulata swinging in the background. It produces a dreamlike effect. This is the strongest metaphor of Charulata's yearning for Amol.

2) Charulata's recollection of her childhood which inspires her to write - a brilliant montage of diverse scenes, such as a river, dancing men, a village fair and fire crackers, juxtaposed over a big close up of her face.

3) The final freeze shot, symbolising the indelible fracture in Bhupati and Charulata's marriage.

Music plays a significant role and qualifies most of the scenes. Acting perhaps ceases to be of supreme importance in such a masterful work but the very fact of the film's quality is testimony to good acting, though Amol (Soumitra Chatterjee) appears slightly theatrical in a few scenes and Bhupati's mannerisms a little arcane in the context of contemporary Bengali civility (which is perhaps irrelevant).

Ray himself has talked of 'Charulata' as his most consummate work, and we can understand why. Here he successfully blends picture and music, with his usual fluent style of narration, to create a deft composition, which is both adroit and expressive - adroit in its adaptation of technique and expressive as a work of art.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foreign Film Fans Take Heed! A CLASSIC by one of the world's best!, April 12, 2008

By	JoeyD (los gatos, ca) - See all my reviews

Satyajit Ray was simply one of the greatest auteurs in the history of film. If you haven't had the privilege of seeing one of his creations, then by all means, please heed my advice. I was first introduced to Ray's work twenty years ago in a film class I took in college. I'm no maven in regards to his movies, having only seen five of them. However, what I can tell you is this, all five of those films were excellent. This one in particular is a gem and many critics believe it to be his magnum opus.

"Charulata" (The Lonely Wife) is based on the short story "Nastanirh" (The Broken Nest) by Pulitzer Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore (whose work I have yet the pleasure of perusing). The story takes place in the late 19th century India and tells the tale of a lonely housewife Charu (short for Charulata), very reminiscent of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. Charu and her rather detached, older husband Bhupati live a quiet, well-to-do life. She is a very beautiful woman, with tons of money and all the time in the world to enjoy her passions - the arts, literature and poetry. Yet her workaholic husband seems to be more concerned with his job than his marriage. And alas, she is all alone, ailing from that distasteful disorder of ennui that seemingly plagues so many kept women.

However, the sun shines a bit brighter for our heroine when Bhupati's young, handsome cousin Amal arrives for a visit. Bhupati, who is far from a heartless man and feels sympathy for his wife's cheerless plight, encourages his cousin to befriend his wife as they both have so much in common (he loves poetry and the arts as well). Well, I won't go any further in relating the story line, but as most of you can guess...

I have read in several different articles that this was Ray's favorite film. That is quite a boast when you consider how many classic, award-winning films this man had been a part of. I just love this guy's directing! He was an artist who was able to evoke any emotion he wanted from his actors. There is typically not a whole lot of dialogue in his films, and he was definitely not one to use any effulgent effects, however I have never seen a director so adept in capturing the intimate feelings of his characters. Ergo, I would be remiss to not give kudos to the fine cast as well - Madhabi Mukherjee as Charlu, Soumitra Chatterjee as Amal, and Shailen Mukherjee as Bhupati. All three give standout performances, especially Madhabi as Charlu and it's no wonder why Ray loved having her as his lead actress for several other films.

There is no violence, foul language, nudity, crude humor, etc... in this 1964 classic. It's a charming story directed by one of the world's greatest story tellers - simple, yet stylish and sophisticated at the same time. I can't recommend it enough!