To claim that TRISHNA is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' is really stretching the imagination. This is an engrossing film about caste differences in India: the screenwriters are not mentioned - only the fact that director Michael Winterbottom based his story on Hardy's famous novel seems to be more of a PR draw than reality. But the film is well acted and the aromas and atmospheres of India are well captured.
TRISHNA reveals the life of one woman whose life is destroyed by a combination of love and circumstances. Set in contemporary Rajasthan, Trishna (Freida Pinto, beautiful and sensitive) meets a wealthy young British businessman Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed, inordinately handsome and polished) who has come to India to work in his father's hotel business. After an accident destroys her father's Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay, and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialization, urbanization and, above all, education. Trishna's tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her: the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim despite being a truly good woman makes her despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Trishna has choices after she receives an education, but she instead chooses to follow her passion for Jay. Jay truly loves Trishna but his social class demands that he keep Trishna as an employee, making his physical love affair with her a private matter due to the rules of the caste system. Jay does not seem to be a villain here and Trishna is not a victim: these two facts make the ending a bit over the top and unnecessary. A more intelligent script could have made this a first class film.
Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed are fascinating to observe as they work through the confines of love in a world that does not condone their union. The other characters in the cast are excellent - especially Roshan Seth as Jay's father. In setting the story in contemporary India the director seems to have decided it was important to include cellphones and Bollywood dancing rehearsals and filmmaking to provide spice. But in the end it is the fine acting by Pinto and Ahmed that make this film work.
Grady Harp
TRISHNA reveals the life of one woman whose life is destroyed by a combination of love and circumstances. Set in contemporary Rajasthan, Trishna (Freida Pinto, beautiful and sensitive) meets a wealthy young British businessman Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed, inordinately handsome and polished) who has come to India to work in his father's hotel business. After an accident destroys her father's Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay, and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialization, urbanization and, above all, education. Trishna's tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her: the sexual double standard to which Tess falls victim despite being a truly good woman makes her despised by society after losing her virginity before marriage. Trishna has choices after she receives an education, but she instead chooses to follow her passion for Jay. Jay truly loves Trishna but his social class demands that he keep Trishna as an employee, making his physical love affair with her a private matter due to the rules of the caste system. Jay does not seem to be a villain here and Trishna is not a victim: these two facts make the ending a bit over the top and unnecessary. A more intelligent script could have made this a first class film.
Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed are fascinating to observe as they work through the confines of love in a world that does not condone their union. The other characters in the cast are excellent - especially Roshan Seth as Jay's father. In setting the story in contemporary India the director seems to have decided it was important to include cellphones and Bollywood dancing rehearsals and filmmaking to provide spice. But in the end it is the fine acting by Pinto and Ahmed that make this film work.
Grady Harp