Event

The Film programme is privileged to have the award-winning Indian Director Mr Adoor Gopalakrishnan screen his film Four Women on Campus. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Mr. Gopalakrishnan. This event will be open to the entire University.

 

About the Screening

Date: Monday 28th September 2009

Time: 1.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.

Venue: Rooms 325-326, New School of Education Building

Contact: The Film Office ext 3980

 

About the Film

FOUR WOMEN

narrative feature

2007 /105 minutes

india malayalam/ english subtitles

director/screenplay: adoor gopalakrishnan, from short stories by

thakazhy shivashankar pillai

starring: nandita das

www.adoorgopalakrishnan.in

 

 

Based on a series of short stories and featuring separate tales about four archetypal women—the Prostitute, the Virgin, the Housewife and the Spinster—Four Women, may on the surface appear to be an allegory about the status of women in a hidebound society. And while in some ways it is a didactic film, it is also a poignant drama featuring engaging and memorable characters. The first story revolves around a former prostitute who, despite giving up her profession, remains stereotyped by society.

The second is about a young woman who enters an arranged marriage, only to find that her husband will not touch her. In the third, a housewife with an impotent husband is presented with the chance to become pregnant through a childhood friend. And in the final story an aging spinster must face up to the reality that she may never marry. Set against the stunning backdrop of rural Kerala, Four Women is a subtly acted and sensitively directed film by one of India’s leading arthouse filmmakers.

 

About the Director

ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN has written and directed a dozen feature and many short and documentary films and won numerous awards in his long career. He is the author of three books on cinema, and served on the jury of the Venice Film Festival, among others. Honours include Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France, 2005 and India’s Dada Saheb Phalke Award, for a lifetime’s achievement in cinema, 2006.