User Reviews

I studied the book "Maitreyi" by Mircea Eliade (or "La nuit Bengali" as it is know internationally) two years ago in high school and was gawked to discover a movie was made after it with Hugh Grant as Allan *Mircea Eliade's persona in the novel).

This movie is made after a semi-autobiographical novel by one of Romania's most successful writers and philosophers, Mircea Eliade. It's about his early years, after finishing his studies in Romania he received a scholarship to Calcutta where he worked with Narendra Sen. In the novel he uses all the actual name, except his own, changing it to Allan. Internationally, he was (and still is) mostly known by the intellectuals and I have a strong feeling that the director of this movie, Nicolas Klotz was a personal friend of Mircea Eliade.

The movie is rubbish compared to the novel, but the actors do a pretty good job. Of course it could have been much better. I hope someday a remake will be made by a very capable director. If you stumble across the movie watch it, but the novel has to be on everybody's "must read at least once in my lifetime" list.

Movie audiences have been fascinated by the use of India as the location for Hollywood and British movies, not to mention Bollywood in the variety of native languages, since the industry was created, and if it wasn't Judy Davis in an early period of time in "A Passage to India", it is this obscure film set in modern times starring Hugh Grant. He's a journalist who falls in love with the boss's daughter (Shabana Azmi), challenging her claims that she doesn't love him back. Certainly she's quite fascinated by him, and does her best to persuade him of the fact that she loves someone else. Like many films set in the different parts of India, it's clear that non-Indian visitors are fascinated by the traditions and personal attributes of the natives, but something about the land has a mystical effect on them, as evidenced by Grant's photographer pal John Hurt in a brief but showy appearance. Azmi's younger sister acts as sort of fairy God sister in her subtle efforts to bring them together through involving them in her problems.

An early lead appearance for Grant, he's a bit more troubled than normal, quite jolly on the surface but definitely suffering from a depression of some sort. When he's initially seen, he seems to be dealing with a drinking problem, and it's up to Hurt to show him the India only special visitors see. It is slow but fascinating, taking the viewer into spots they'd never get to visit, and through the power of mysticism and human decency in spite of major cultural differences and family honor. There's no way that this story can end happily, and Grant is excellent in showing his character's increasing despair. It's just a shame that Hurt disappears early in the film because his troubled yet take charge character is the most memorable in the film.