La Femme du Gange

FR 1973. PC: Albina Productions / O.R.T.F. D+SC: Marguerite Duras - based on her novels L'Amour (1971), Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein (1964), and Le Vice-Consul (1966). DP: Bruno Nuytten. M: Carlos d'Alessio. Theme: "India Song". Location: Trouville-sur-Mer. Starring Catherine Sellars (the woman in black, the spouse of the traveller), Nicole Hiss (the girl at S. Thala), Gérard Depardieu (the young man on the beach, "the guardian"), Christian Baltauss (The other man on the beach), Dionys Mascolo (the traveller). 88 min. A worn 16mm print with colour intact from Gémini Films with e-subtitles in Finnish by Kristina Haataja. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki 23 April 2005. The first film in the India cycle of Duras, the filmic high point of which remains India Song. 152 shots with an immobile camera on the beach, on the sunset, and in the seaside hotel. The soundtrack and the image are radically independent. Extremely minimalistic, the aim was to butcher the three India novels by Duras.