The movie is tentatively a story about a woman, Anne (Julie Christie), who is in India researching a great-aunt, Olivia (Greta Scacchi). Olivia was the wife of a low-level British civil servant serving in India who eventually slept around on him with a native, causing a major scandal. The world of 1920's India was larger than life for the woman and its lure to her was understandable (but only by modern standards). Anne, trying to uncover more details about her relative, eventually becomes attracted to a local herself, and the movie goes into great detail comparing and contrasting the two ladies, as well as the two generations and cultures involved. Just as each generation (Anne's story is set in the 1970's) has its quirks, and differing social mores, so to do the cultures and the inevitable culture clashes (some related to India's independence in the interim, others to the decline of the British Empire).

I liked the movie and took the time to watch it more than once in order to catch more detail. Some of the subtleties revealed themselves with thoughtful consideration and others were admittedly the result of listening to the audio commentary and watching the interviews. While each of us would see something different based on our own backgrounds, the general themes of the movie were crystal clear and sometimes a biting commentary on issues that are still with us today. Thus, the writing and direction were great.

The acting was also solid with each of the performers providing a realistic version of their character. This kept the movie from getting too bogged down in the slower moving passages the movie had plenty of. It was a movie made for those of us with patience, not needing an immediate payoff as it were, and the many layers it offered will be appreciated by fans of well constructed movies everywhere. I'm going to rate the movie as Highly Recommended for such fans but caution that the majority of movie goers will likely find it slow moving and too obscure. It's an excellent movie but only for the limited audience it seeks to address.

Picture: The picture was presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The movie was digitally remastered and looked far better than it should have looked although there were minor amounts of grain, some soft focus, print scratches, and occasional artifacts. The flesh tones were generally very accurate and the color bleed was minimal, except in a few scenes. For a movie made on a fairly limited budget in a foreign country over twenty years ago, it looked very good although it was not nearly as refined as many mainstream releases made in recent years. The paper insert mentioned that the new digital transfer was made from the original 35mm interpositive, using the Revival Digital Restoration System to remove visual flaws (I can only imagine how bad it was previously).

Sound: The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital English. Like the picture, the audio was also remastered and sounds very clear considering the various limitations of the source material. While the separation between the two channels wasn't exactly earth shattering, it contributed to the quality of the production. The vocals and music were mixed properly in most cases and any flaws in the audio track were not immediately noticeable. The soundtrack was reportedly mastered from the LR/RT magnetic audio tracks .

Extras: The extras were solid as well, adding some real replay value. There was an audio commentary on the feature with Ismail Merchant, Greta Scacchi, and Nickolas Grace where they discussed various aspects of their backgrounds in relation to the making of the movie as well as anecdotes about the story itself. There was a decent interview/conversation between the people who made the movie, including Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Richard Robbins (the producer, director, screenwriter, and music director respectively). It concentrated more on getting the movie made, with all the difficulties that entailed, than anything else. They did venture into the story and how important the release was for them too though. There was a trailer to the feature and a wonderfully informative twelve-page paper insert.

Last, but not least, there was a hour long short film made for television, Autobiography Of A Princess. The movie was a story about an Indian Princess living in England who fondly remembers her days when her father was a Maharaja and she was his favorite daughter. To counterbalance her overly glossy memories of the "good old days" is a former servant of her father's, aptly played by James Mason, who points out that the man was not as well remembered by the rest of the world. The featurette was presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color, with a new digital transfer created using the original 16mm internegative. It didn't fare nearly as well as the feature itself but I chalk that up to the source material more than any lack of effort on the part of the company.

Final Thoughts: The movie was very well made on all levels and thoughtful viewers will appreciate it deeply. The way it compares and contrasts the two situations (women, culture, time period) and uses the results to make its points showed some major talent on the part of all involved, making it easy to see why it won so many awards. Don't get me wrong, it is not a movie for everyone, but it was well worth the effort I put into it.