REVIEWS


Trishna REVIEWED BY ALLAN HUNTER


In a year of striking literary reinterpretations (Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre etc), Trishna may be the boldest of them all as writer/director Michael Winterbottom translates successfully the dark tragedy of Thomas Hardy’s late Victorian classic Tess Of The d’Urbervilles to the streets and mores of contemporary India. The issues of class privilege, inequality and


masculine arrogance still resonate within the set- ting, allowing the film to shake off any of the fusty connotations of period drama and connect with a modern arthouse audience. Gorgeous cinematog- raphy and potent star performances from Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed should also help widen the demographic for what could be one of the prolific Winterbottom’s most commercial efforts. Fifteen years ago, Winterbottom filmed Tho-


mas Hardy’s Jude The Obscure. His faith in the author’s work pays off again with a film that divides neatly into two halves. The first half is filled with light, hope and the giddy beginnings of a promising romance. The second half grows darker and more intense as romance turns to unbearable shame. The narrative arc of Hardy’s epic is woven faithfully into this modern interpre- tation even though a great deal has been omitted or altered significantly. In Winterbottom’s version, 19-year-old Trishna


(Pinto) is the pure woman of the story. When Jay (Ahmed) catches sight of her in rural Rajasthan, he is smitten instantly by her beauty and shy man- ner. The English-educated Jay is the son of a prop- erty developer and offers to find her a job at his father’s Jaipur hotel. His intentions seem pure and the prospect of


increasing the family income is an offer that she cannot refuse. He charms and seduces her in a romance that develops through the careless brush


n 14 Screen International at the Toronto Film Festival September 11, 2011


SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS


UK. 2011. 117 mins Director Michael Winterbottom Production company Revolution Films International sales Bankside Films, www. banksidefilms.com Producers Melissa Parmenter, Michael Winterbottom Executive producers Andrew Eaton, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Shail Shah Screenplay Michael Winterbottom based on Thomas Hardy’s Tess Of The d’Urbervilles Cinematography Marcel Zyskind Production designer David Bryan Editor Mags Arnold Music Shigeru Umebayashi Main cast Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Roshan Seth


of a hand or the warm breath that intimately caresses a neck. Trishna’s faith in Jay remains untarnished by


his actions and casual disregard for her feelings. She agrees to accompany him to Mumbai as his live-in girlfriend, an arrangement that becomes much more clandestine when Jay is obliged to manage another one of his father’s hotels. Trishna is infused with the spirit of India. Win-


terbottom is able to convey the tensions in a com- plex nation that respects traditional values and yet rushes to embrace all the liberties and luxuries of a booming modern economy. Cinematographer Marcel Zyskind captures a


real feel of the dust and dynamism of India, offer- ing some breathtaking images of bustling city streets contrasted with the lemony dusks and burning-bright sunlight of the countryside. The look of the film alone may be enough to attract and


intrigue some viewers, and the soundtrack by Shigeru Umebayashi is equally beguiling. Winterbottom has also been astute in his casting.


Freida Pinto has all the pouting beauty that Trishna requires, as well as the awkwardness and vulnerabil- ity. Riz Ahmed is a revelation, showing bags of romantic leading-man ability in a performance of immense charm and edge. He is such a sexy, appeal- ing figure that he almost makes us too attached to Jay. When he turns increasingly controlling and cruel, it feels as much a betrayal of the audience as it does of Trishna’s wholehearted belief in him. Trishna does feel overlong and starts to drift in a


slightly repetitive, doom-laden second half, but that makes the surprisingly steamy sex and the violent denouement all the more shocking. What begins as an infatuation similar to In The Mood For Love ends much closer to the destructive obsession of In The Realm Of The Senses.


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