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      India Song

      1974 2 hr. 0 min. Drama Comedy List
      83% 6 Reviews Tomatometer 65% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (29) audience reviews
      William L India Song is a unique take on drama - a ponderous character study of a woman that takes multiple lovers to escape the confined domestic world of an ambassador's wife. Its execution is wholly remarkable, as conversation and character motion are kept to a minimum, while the camera remains stationary as well, allowing time and space for the audience to reflect on the emotional states of the minimalist cast. What energy is present is mostly put to use in slow dances or swirling cigarette smoke, spread over a sparing set that consists of just a few rooms in a gilded mansion. Over much of the runtime, a pair of unseen narrators provide context in the form of vague, poetic musings. All together, it results in a particularly languid, lyrical film that feels very much reminiscent of a stage play, which makes sense given that the script was based on an unproduced play from writer-director Marguerite Duras, perhaps best known for her authorship of the script for Hiroshima mon amour and the considerable acclaim that followed. While certainly a unique exercise in film, stepping boldly into new directions to tell an unconventional story of both romance and repression, India Song is relentlessly dull by design, oftentimes painfully so. Some could call it hypnotic or subtly enthralling, but to me it's difficult to recognize the film as anything other than an interesting exercise - a unique experience that is worth the watch for the creativity alone, but would have a tough time inspiring a rewatch at any point in the near future. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/17/21 Full Review Audience Member India Song is a film that many will find frustrating due to lack of action. However, there is a lot of visual beauty to admire it for. The writing is also mesmerizing but can be confusing. It will be a hit or miss but the visuals are some of the best. It can be either a pleasant visual experience or a frustrating experience of searching for the meaning behind it all... Enjoy it for what it is. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member 2 hours, 0 action, 5 characters, 1 song and no dialogues Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Utterly appalling. There are reasons why films show actors talkng to one another rather than providing a voiceover while they do nothing, and critics should have the sense to call out this sort of bullshit. Duras did some fine work as a scriptwriter but on this evidence should never have been allowed near the director's chair. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review s r 1001 movies to see before you die. Despite its unusual style, it still manages to captivate with subtlety of French culture in India. A unique film for certain despite its tediousness. It was on Youtube. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member "Anne-Marie Stretter avait rencontré Michael Richardson lors d'une soirée donnée au bal du Casino de T. Beach dans la ville de S. Talah..." Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (6) Critics Reviews
      Peter Tonguette Wall Street Journal The film’s supremely unhurried pacing permits us to luxuriate in each image: of a deep-green forest at dusk, an eerily vacant tennis court, a nearly otherworldly full-length mirror. Mar 9, 2023 Full Review Vincent Canby New York Times So it goes in this kind of romantic nonsense that isn't too different in essential content from the four-hankie movies of the nineteen-thirties and forties. Rated: 2.5/5 May 20, 2006 Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film Dumas’ mastery of a radical style of French literature... Feb 13, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Even as one views India Song with an appreciation of its symbolism and bold formal experimentation, one must question whether it produces any feeling. Rated: 3/4 Feb 20, 2022 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A static doomed lover movie that is meant to excite you stylistically as it bores you to death with its thin drama. Rated: B- Feb 14, 2014 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Gallic avant-gardists make great zombie movies Sep 6, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Director
      Marguerite Duras
      Genre
      Drama, Comedy
      Original Language
      French (Canada)