I'd never seen a Satyajit Ray film with a happy ending till this one, and it's entirely unconvincing.
We have here a lugubrious meditation on the changing roles of women, with characters about as substantial as stick figures.
Protagonist Arati (Madhabi Mukheree) is indeed beautiful, but entirely lacking in credibility as a housewife who gets a job. With money troubles at home, she takes a position as a knitting-machine seller, only to experience radical personality changes after just four months of bringing in the rupees.
Arati comes up with a highly lame scheme for chucking it all, just to keep the peace with her deeply depressed husband (Anil Chatterjee), who does little more than brood, sip tea, and smoke throughout the drama.
I kept expecting this to come together in a meaningful way. But its ending seemed a total copout.
Way below Ray's usual standards!
We have here a lugubrious meditation on the changing roles of women, with characters about as substantial as stick figures.
Protagonist Arati (Madhabi Mukheree) is indeed beautiful, but entirely lacking in credibility as a housewife who gets a job. With money troubles at home, she takes a position as a knitting-machine seller, only to experience radical personality changes after just four months of bringing in the rupees.
Arati comes up with a highly lame scheme for chucking it all, just to keep the peace with her deeply depressed husband (Anil Chatterjee), who does little more than brood, sip tea, and smoke throughout the drama.
I kept expecting this to come together in a meaningful way. But its ending seemed a total copout.
Way below Ray's usual standards!