ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo
Teeming with crowded images, voices and torrential rain, Payal Kapadia’s second feature All We Imagine as Light is a suitably vibrant portrait of the city of Mumbai. Settling quickly on a trio of women, the film opens with a broad perspective, showing images of the bustling city set to voice-overs of its various inhabitants. Many people move to Mumbai for work, resulting in a hybrid population of different backgrounds and even nationalities.
These transplants carry with them different social norms, religions, languages and customs, and are sometimes forced to blend together within tight quarters. The three leads of Kapadia’s film all work at the same hospital but possess very different personalities, coming from three different generations. Prabha (Kani Kusruti), the head nurse, and Anu (Divya Prabha), a recent hire, live together as roommates. Both come from the Southern State of Kerala but Anu, the younger of the two, is much more headstrong and rebellious than Prabha, who is intrinsically caring but rather strict. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is the oldest of the three, and hails from the coastal district of Ratnagiri. She works as a cook in the hospital and faces eviction from her longtime home when builders threaten to force her out. Each fighting their own stressors, these women find solace in their friendship, eventually traveling together outside of the city, to Parvaty’s seaside home town.
Prabha and Anu are both facing romantic dilemmas that clash with their disparate social mores. Courted by a kind doctor at her work, Prabha bristles at the prospect of romance because she is currently married to a man who lives in Germany. Arranged by her family, the marriage is in a tenuous state, as her husband has practically abandoned her. Prabha, however, adheres to tradition, and so she rejects the well-meaning doctor. Anu, on the other hand, is a natural rebel, and is secretly in love with a young Muslim. She struggles daily to find a location where she can be intimate with him, in spite of the strict rules and religious beliefs of both of their families. Prabha soon learns of the young lovers’ deception, but begrudgingly continues to support her friend.
Kapadia is deeply interested in women’s struggles, surrounding the story of her main trio with supporting anecdotes set within the hospital. One young woman, for instance, discreetly receives birth control pills from Anu while an elderly patient draws relief from Prabha as she suffers from hallucinations of her abusive husband. Every woman in the film is dealing with her own battles, and Kapadia turns her camera on each one as an empathetic listener. Several of the problems are quite severe, but the director refrains from over-dramatizing any particular issue, instead presenting each story equally within her kaleidoscopic vision of the city. The power of friendship rings the loudest, instigating a sense of triumph over unfortunate, ongoing problems. Kapadia avoids wrapping up her criss-crossing plots in a neat bow, keeping her film admirably true to life. Friendship, however, (especially among women) can serve as a healing force, and All We Imagine as Light depicts that salve beautifully.
