life is a novel
 

Posted on 20.10.2023

From 1955 to 1959, Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray shot a series of three movies, known as the Apu trilogy, depicting life in India in the 20th century as seen through the eyes of Apu, first as a child, then as a teenager and finally as a young adult. In the three stages of life, Ray elegantly portrays the turmoil of Indian society attracted by modernity, but still held back by tradition, with the eternal backdrop of landscapes with their indifferent and amusing animals.

Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959) are works so coherent that they could be screened without ending credits; each instalment harmoniously flowing into the next. In every movie, Ray filmed the same restless human gaze, perpetually torn between a difficult and sometimes tragic present and the ardent hope of a brighter future. Amid reassuring urban or natural landscapes, populated by monkeys and other creatures, Apu is a survivor who does everything he can to simply feel alive.

The society facing Apu is also a trilogy, divided between the spiritual world with its ritualised religious and musical ceremonies, the world of the family sphere where intimacy is a rare luxury (given life’s highly precarious nature), and finally, the world of inner life, where one must decide one’s own destiny.

The World of Apu, 1959  © Satyajit Ray Productions / DR

If you love madly, in this whirlwind of life that is this trilogy, it takes a long time to say so, because it is so hard to think about love in the face of natural disasters, lack of money, the desire to play and the sudden death of those you love. The Apu trilogy is an intimate epic, perhaps miniscule by its country’s standards, but Ray's feverish protagonist, always intense, even in his children’s games, makes it indispensable and unforgettable.

Virginie Apiou

SCREENINGS

Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray, (1955, 2h05)
Lumière Terreaux – Sunday, 15 October at 7.15pm
Institut Lumière (Hangar) – Monday, 16 October at 2.45pm

Aparajito by Satyajit Ray, (1956)
UGC Astoria – Wednesday, 18 October at 5.30pm
Pathé Bellecour – Thursday, 19 October at 11.15am

The World of Apu by Satyajit Ray, (Apur Sansar, 1959, 1h45)
UGC Astoria – Friday, 20 October at 4.15pm
Lumière Terreaux – Saturday, 21 October at 11am