MOVIE: Trishna
DIRECTOR: Michael Winterbottom
SCREENWRITER: Michael Winterbottom (adapted from Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”)
LEAD CAST: Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed
THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2012
FESTIVAL DATE: Friday, May 18 and Sunday, May 20
SYNOPSIS: Trishna (Freida Pinto) lives with her family in a village in Rajasthan, India’s largest state. As the eldest daughter, she works in a nearby resort to help pay the bills. Jay (Riz Ahmed) is the wealthy son of a property developer. When he takes up managing a resort at his father’s request, he meets Trishna at a dance and their fates cross. Jay finds every opportunity to win Trishna’s affection and she accepts his efforts with shy curiosity. But when the two move to Mumbai and become a couple, Jay’s deep family bond threatens the young lovers’ bliss.
QUICK THOUGHTS: Beautiful cinematography from Marcel Zyskind combined with vibrant costumes and scenery. An enriching score from Shigeru Umebayashi (In the Mood for Love). Wonderful original songs from Amit Trivedi. A convincing and moving performance from Freida Pinto, working in her native language where she seems far more comfortable and free to focus on character. I, however, had a problem with the narrative, which seemed to play something of a tug-of-war with the audience. It manages to be consistent in our concern for Trishna’s well-being as we want only to protect her, but Jay is a character that becomes so ambiguous his actions never quite made sense and I was never able to become fully convinced by Trishna’s back-and-forth decisions to stay or run. [C+]
