The lifelike lyricism of Grand Prix winning “All We Imagine As Light” | The Triangle
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The lifelike lyricism of Grand Prix winning “All We Imagine As Light”

Dec. 6, 2024
Photo courtesy of Cannes Festival

Writer-director Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine As Light” arrived in US theaters after an illustrious festival run, including its win of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The film — Kapadia’s very first fiction feature — is an intimate snapshot into the lives of working-class women in the Indian metropolitan city of Mumbai. 

The narrative views the city through the prism of two Malayalam-speaking nurses (and roommates) who have migrated north from their home state, Kerala. Meeting another person in the city who speaks their native language is relatively rare, representing the experience of countless people who come from different corners of India and migrate to Mumbai for work. Many languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali, flow in and out of each other as Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) experience day-to-day life in Mumbai, reckoning with the unique opportunities and burdens alike that the city presents them with.

The film has a remarkably naturalistic quality, framed and shot by cinematographer Ranabir Das in a uniquely intimate manner that brings the viewer up and close with the characters without feeling voyeuristic. Many scenes make the viewer feel like a fly on the wall, directly observing the little nothings — and the little somethings — of these characters’ lives. It finds meaning in the mundane at an unhurried pace, resembling the rhythm in which everyday life flows. Occasional strains of background music, particularly a softly playful piano riff, are carefully placed to build a delicate atmosphere defined largely by silences and pauses. While the film touches upon social themes as well, not once does it deviate from this rhythm or from its characters. 

At the heart of it all lies simple yet profound truths about love and life, conveyed through matter-of-fact dialogue, stripped of cinematic flair. This subdued portrayal of emotions slowly moves the viewer to start feeling almost like a participant in the story. Not one thing is exaggerated, be it humor, love or melancholy. Thus, the film takes a curiously uncinematic approach even as it is highly cinematic in its form. The lack of aesthetics in our daily lives becomes an aesthetic in itself. The performances from the entire cast wonderfully capture this tonality.

There is a strong sense of sisterhood that binds Prabha and Anu together, despite their diverging worldviews, influenced in part by the different stages of life in which they each find themselves. These characters are strongly defined through subtle detail; a particular highlight is the scene that introduces Anu, portraying boredom at the workplace in a remarkably specific manner. It is also rare to see romance captured on film that revels so deeply in shared moments of silence as much as it does in conversation and more obvious forms of intimacy. 

Many might define a great film as being so immersive that it makes the viewers forget about their own world as they sit in the theater, but the unique quality of “All We Imagine As Light” is that it allows the viewer to feel themselves existing in the world of the film – in the blue-tinted streets of Mumbai, in the small apartments where residents take life one day at a time and in the quiet moments of alienation and hope in a city that is difficult to find a full sense of place in. However, the feeling of being an outsider in the city is only the beginning of the many emotions covered by the film. It finds value in the smallest bits of joy, the smallest acts of love and the smallest moments of growth. The ending, too, resists the temptation to tie everything in a neat bow, leaving some questions unanswered while choosing to zero in on a small epiphany that, in its own little way, brings the story full circle.

“All We Imagine As Light” is an emotional experience that is at once culturally specific and relatable to a broader audience. It invites the viewer to reflect on the smaller, everyday aspects of life that are not often represented on the big screen and even less often in such an elegantly raw manner. Each viewer is likely to take away something different from the film as it is full of fleeting yet resonant moments, just as in life itself.