Genre：Drama/Romance
Director：Payal Kapadia
Cast：Kani Kusruti、Divya Prabha、Chhaya Kadam、Hridhu Haroon、Azees Nedumangad
Viola's Rating：8.7
Winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival this year,
All We Imagine as Light is now aiming for its next major accolade at the Golden Globe Awards, having been nominated for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film. The feature film had a limited US release on November 15, 2024.
Coproduced by France, India, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the story of All We Imagine as Light is set in Mumbai, where Nurse Prabha's routine is disrupted when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, struggles to find a private spot in the city where she can be intimate with her boyfriend.
According to the International Institute for Population Sciences and Population Council, less than 5% of marriages in India are neither arranged nor semi-arranged. With three women as its central characters,
All We Imagine as Light also highlights this societal issue. Whether to follow tradition has become a significant dilemma for modern Indian women, and Nurse Prabha is no exception.
Beyond arranged marriages, Indian women also face economic inequality, especially after losing their spouses. As one of the world’s largest countries, India suffers from severe economic disparity, with numerous ghettos scattered throughout the country. Even with a stable job,
All We Imagine as Light illustrates how its characters struggle to secure decent housing.
These challenges, however, aren’t unique to Mumbai. Director Payal Kapadia uses India as a lens to portray this universal issue. From the opening remarks of All We Imagine as Light to its ongoing narrative, the film reveals the shared realities of life in a bustling metropolis. People flock to cities chasing their dreams, but how many can actually manage to survive, let alone achieve their goals?
Moreover, India faces deep-rooted barriers of caste and religion. Even young men and women who reject the traditional arranged marriage system must still seek family approval if they belong to different castes or religions. While we live in a globalized world in 2024, a vast country like India still has more than 1,000 mother tongues. Even for native Indians, language barriers can pose significant challenges to survival in Mumbai.
Although All We Imagine as Light addresses many pressing social issues, Director Payal Kapadia uses a quiet and tender narrative style to tell the story. The soothing jazz piano music in the background gently reminds the audience that, despite life’s struggles, everything will be okay — as long as we keep light and hope alive in our hearts. No matter where we’re from, as global citizens, we all face similar dilemmas in our daily lives.
Picture Credit: Swallow Wings Film
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