Heat and Dust (1983)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

January 1983 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal...

Plot Keywords:

India | 1920s | Love Triangle | Horse | Interracial Romance

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Christopher Cazenove	...	Douglas Rivers, the Assistant Collector (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Greta Scacchi	...	Olivia, his wife (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Julian Glover	...	Crawford, the District Collector (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Susan Fleetwood	...	Mrs. Crawford, the Burra Mensahib (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Patrick Godfrey	...	Saunders, the Medical Officer (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Jennifer Kendal	...	Mrs. Saunders (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Shashi Kapoor	...	The Nawab (At the Palace in Khatm)
Madhur Jaffrey	...	Begum Mussarat Jahan, the Nawab's mother (At the Palace in Khatm)
Nickolas Grace	...	Harry Hamilton-Paul (At the Palace in Khatm)
Barry Foster	...	Major Minnies, the Political Agent (At the Palace in Khatm)
Julie Christie	...	Anne (1982. In Satipur Town)
Zakir Hussain	...	Inder Lal, Anne's landlord (1982. In Satipur Town)
Ratna Pathak	...	Ritu, Inder Lal's wife (1982. In Satipur Town)
Tarla Mehta	...	Inder Lal's mother (1982. In Satipur Town)
Charles McCaughan	...	Chid (1982. In Satipur Town)

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | UK:15 | USA:R | Ireland:18

Filming Locations:

Andhra Pradesh, India

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

First cinema feature of Patrick Godfrey.

My brief review of the film

As per usual, James Ivory captures a good feel for the period and setting, helped by, as usual, a fitting Richard Robbins score. As a cultural study, it has some things to say, with an insight into the culture of the indigenous Indian population, but it conveys little in the way of messages, as the screenplay is awfully convoluted, not helped by switching between different narrators and time periods. Some of the supporting characters are not defined well either, and there are a few lethargic gaps between events in the tale. The filming on-location is great, and generally it is all rather well made, but it pales against the work that Merchant-Ivory would produce later on, as this simply is not near a perfect film.