‘All We Imagine As Light’ review: A rousing drama about self-discovery

Desire and duty dictate the language of Payal Kapadia’s visually sumptuous All We Imagine As Light.

Kapadia’s punctuates her film with a subtly biting script that softly eviscerates our constant condemnation of women, both self-inflicted and otherwise. But it comes alive through the work between Kapadia and cinematographer Ranabir Das, both of whom breathe vibrancy into each and every crevice of the bustling Mumbai. 

The film opens on a note of contemplation, unveiling an overarching theme that persists. Anonymous speakers talk plainly about the impermanence of Mumbai and the anxiety that comes when people try to call a place a home, all while fearing having to leave. The city of dreams becomes the city of illusions. While this sounds like a dour way to start, the film soon finds beauty in small gestures and camaraderie, following two women whose individual paths are opposed and intersect all the same. 

Praba (Kani Kusruit) and Anu (Divya Prabha) are the two women in question, roommates and nurses at a Mumbai hospital. Prahba is well-respected and catches the attention of a doctor who writes her poetry. However, she has an husband even though she hasn’t seen him in over a year as he works abroad. Hers was an arranged marriage, which is partly why she initially seems so frustrated by Anu’s whims. Because Anu refuses to play a rigid cutout role, refusing to answer her mother’s phone calls. She’s dating a Muslim boy in secret, and the other nurses are beginning to talk about it. 

But the film is so much more than simply one woman’s version of romance and marriage versus the others. Prabha is quick to judge at the start, but the writing and Kusruit’s performance suggest it was borne more from jealousy than actual ire. Their generational divide creates a level of friction, but Prabha is also constantly looking out for Anu. However, the latter’s progressive nature and spiritedness cut a figure who doesn’t need others’ protection. She leads the way, embracing her sexuality and individuality. 

We see this in the early moments, as she helps a woman out with birth control when the patient is worried her partner won’t want to undergo a vasectomy. But it makes itself known throughout, through her standing her ground when Prabha owes her an apology for sex with her boyfriend, where she grows increasingly empowered. But her liberation doesn’t negate Prabha’s own journey, in which she finds her kind of freedom even as she works against the pressures of societal expectations. 

The film immerses itself in the hustle of city life but pivots to a coastal village when the two help Prabha’s friend, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), move. The sea salt lowers their guards as Prabha watches Anu dance and flirt, so fully herself, uninhibited and joyous. 

The city life and the oceanside escape get the same level of attention, visceral in the ability to soak up the air around the characters. An early scene sets the tone, capturing all this film entails in a perfectly executed shot. Prabha sits isolated against the open windows in her apartment, her solitude speaking wonders as she grieves a marriage that was never truly hers. In the background, life continues as the highway is set ablaze by roaring engines and headlights. The moment demonstrates the glory of a beautiful frame, the lights of the moment echoed later in a more tender, uplifting sequence. 

Kapadia amplifies her approach to magical surrealism with artistic flourishes. The colors become richer, and she takes pains to steady the camera on the character’s faces. Take, for instance, the dance sequence between Anu and Parvaty. The camera lingers and plays with the actresses, a third member of the two-person routine. It texturizes an already stunning moment that best brings to life the film’s mission statement, that for all we suffer, we find ways to cope and survive regardless. We see friendship through laughter and tenderness in stolen glances. 

The bottom line.

All We Imagine As Light delicately balances the old with the new, whether Prabha and Anu’s differing lifestyles or a new rice cooker Prabha didn’t ask for. As the third act descends into further enlightenment for the characters, the filmmaking style adopts an increasingly dreamlike quality. We, too, bask in the serene atmosphere as these three women deal with the fallout of their pasts while contemplating their futures. With an endless well of generosity, the film finds it at its most harmonious when the three simply exist in the other’s presence, their existence proof of their ability to grow. 

All We Imagine As Light hits theaters November 15.