A staggering work of formalist design, Mani Kaul's Duvidha is a deeply haunting ghost story in which the metaphysical world excavates and examines the nature of love beyond crude social constructions which often manage or restrict our conceptions of such an intangible force. Admittedly need to spend more time exploring the Indian New Wave but of the two films of Mani Kauls I've seen, it's clear he a major artist worth exploring. Duvidha's formal framework here is astonishing - meticulously detailed use of composition and blocking enunciates an aura of social suppression for our young protagonist who rests at the fulcrum of its story. Caught between a worldly husband whose pursuits are tied almost entirely to material gratification and that of an other-worldly spirit who pines to experience what it is to be human and experience love, Duvidha invokes a lyricism that feels singular and deeply empathetic towards its subjects, examining truths unrestrained by social constructions of marriage and legality. A masterclass in how formalism not narrative evinces a film's underlying conception and thematic intent, Main Kaul's Duvidha is a striking vision of alienation and contemplation in which its precise compositions and clinical assembly evoke a haunting ethos in which the metaphysical and natural worlds collide.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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