Synopsis

This film about a woman’s artistic and romantic yearning by Satyajit Ray is set in late nineteenth-century, pre-independence India.

It takes place in the gracious home of a liberal-minded, workaholic newspaper editor and his lonely, stifled wife, Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), whose exquisitely composed features mask a burning creativity.

When her husband’s poet cousin comes to stay with them, Charulata finds herself both inspired by him to pursue her own writing and dangerously drawn to him physically.



Based on a novella by the great Rabindranath Tagore, Charulata is a work of subtle textures, a delicate tale of a marriage in jeopardy and a woman taking the first steps toward establishing her own voice. —The Criterion Collection

Cast:  Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Sailen Mukherjee, Syamal Ghosal, Gitali Roy, Bholanath Koyal, Suku Mukherjee, Dilip Bose, Joydeb, Bankim Ghosh, Subrata Sensharma

Berlinale (Competition): Best Director, OCIC Award, New York, Locarno (Sections Spéciales Hommage à Satyajit Ray), Berlinale (Retrospective), Abu Dhabi (Special Programs), Locarno (Open Doors: Satyajit Ray), Cannes (Cannes Classics)