Small, short, gripping film about a man who meets by accident the woman he loved but allowed circumstance to dissuade him from marrying. She now has a boorish older husband, and refuses to engage with him in the old way. The best moments are the shots of the woman's turned, scarfed head - she is unavailable now - "it will not be revealed" - and her headscarf becomes an eloquent example of all the veils the coward has to face, one he has not had the gumption to walk into love's temple. The performances are excellent, with frequent close-ups delineating the suffering of the protagonist and, in the flashbacks, the woman. The revelation of the husband's acquiescence to social conservatism, the caste system and subsistence on alcohol as a way of getting through life is slyly shocking. Many meanings of the word coward are explored, and each of the three characters might be said to show some cowardice.
The feel is pretty gritty and realistic, and reminiscent of a 1960s BBC Wednesday Play.
The feel is pretty gritty and realistic, and reminiscent of a 1960s BBC Wednesday Play.