There is a characteristic Ray scene - perhaps the characteristic Ray scene... two people, arriving at some moment of discovery about themselves, caught in an instant of absorbed silence.

An exquisitely traced drama of repressed desire, set in 1880 and shot in glowing, graphic black and white.

Beneath the straightened 19th- century values and Mukherjee's deft, delicate performance lies a drama that's fit to burst with political and colonial discourse, class, proto-feminist values, music, poetry and, most of all, love. All life is here.

Simplicity and complexity in equal measure and perfect harmony in Charulata, which expertly intertwines the title character's various awakenings.