Underplayed Gems

Heat and Dust (1983)

Heat and Dust poster
Directed by
James Ivory
Genre
drama film, period drama film, romance film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
2h 13m
Rated
R
Rating
6.0 of 10 from 45 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Two stories set 60 years apart follow two women in India. In the 1920s, a British official's wife has an affair with an Indian prince. In the 1980s, her great-niece travels to India to learn about her past and finds herself in a similar situation.

romanticmelancholicslow-burnatmosphericelegiacreflectivesensuousbittersweet

What happens

Heat and Dust is a 1983 British historical romantic drama film, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on her novel, Heat and Dust (1975). It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. It stars Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor and Julie Christie. The plot of Heat and Dust follows two intertwined stories. The first is set in British India of the 1920s, and deals with an illicit affair between Olivia, the beautiful young wife of a British colonial official, and an Indian Nawab. The second, set in 1982, deals with Anne, Olivia's great-niece, who travels to India hoping to find out about her great-aunt's life, and while there, also has an affair with a married Indian man. Heat and Dust was one of several film and television productions that emerged during the first half of the 1980s, reflecting Britain's growing interest in the British Raj. These included the films Gandhi (1982) and A Passage to India (1984), and the television series The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and The Far Pavilions (1984). Heat and Dust was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. At the 1984 BAFTA Awards, it earned eight nominations, including Best Film, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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