The Goddess / Devi (1960) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Satyajit Ray
Writer: Prabhat Kumar Mukherjee (story), Satyajit Ray (screenplay)
Stars: Sharmila Tagore, Soumitra Chatterjee, Chhabi Biswas

Master filmmaker Satyajit Ray explores the conflict between fanaticism and free will in Devi (The Goddess), issuing a subversively modern challenge to religious orthodoxy and patriarchal power structures. In rural India in the second half of the nineteenth century, after his son (Soumitra Chatterjee) leaves for Kolkata to complete his studies, a wealthy feudal landlord (Chhabi Biswas) is seized by the notion that his beloved daughter-in-law (a hauntingly sad-eyed Sharmila Tagore) is an incarnation of the Mother Goddess—a delusion that proves devastating to the young woman and those around her. The elegantly stylized compositions and the chiaroscuro lighting by cinematographer Subrata Mitra heighten the expressionistic intensity of this domestic tragedy, making for an experience that is both sublime and shattering.

Extras:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New program featuring interviews with actors Sharmila Tagore and Soumitra Chatterjee recorded in 2013
- New video essay by film scholar Meheli Sen
- New English subtitle translation




All thanks to the original uploader