Brick Lane **

Directed by Sarah Gavron.
With Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum, Lana Rahman, Lalita Rahman, Harvey Virdi.
Based on book by Monica Ali. Screenplay by Laura Jones.
Released 2007. Seen on DVD.

Having read the book before seeing the movie, of course I enjoyed the book more, so it's hard to get a idea of how good this movie was. One thing I noticed was that there seemed to be too many ideas and they all seemed scattershot. Perhaps they tried to fit too much from the book into the film. Also the romance part seemed too obvious. The leading love interests were making goo goo eyes at each other almost from the start. The love affair was not allowed to grow naturally. Little was done to demonstrate why the wife would even bother partake in such a love affair.

On the other hand, the film is very beautiful to look at. There's lots of vivid reds and oranges displayed in the textiles that were abundantly shown in England and in India. Another pro for this film is the presence of Ms. Chatterjee. She's an alluring and charming actress and I now have a new crush.

For a summary of the story, I think I'll guide you to the review of the book which was written several weeks earlier. Suffice it to say that the movie does a lot of condensing of plot points from the film, as most films are wont to do. It just seemed to bug me a little more than usual.

Also, in the film, the husband is a less sympathetic character. In the book, I felt bad for him even though he was arrogant and pompous. Here he shows the arrogance but little of the sympathetic side. That fact makes it difficult for the wife to be torn between her lover and her husband. She does demonstrate this confusion about who she really loves in both the book and the film. It's just less convincing in the film since we see little of her husbands good side. But I guess in the limitations of film, one has to use a broader brush to paint their characters, and I think the husband loses out in this broadness.

Here's an interview with the lovely young lady.