India Song, 1975, 120 min., 35mm

"The formal approach is like nothing before in film history: the 'drama' is entirely aural, and the elegant visuals counterpoint it by creating an atmosphere of sumptuous enervation." (Time Out)

This legendary and long-unavailable work by novelist, playwright and film director Marguerite Duras is an audiovisual poem haunted by the intoxicating dream of decadent colonialism and impossible love. The separately recorded soundtrack is a tapestry of ambient sounds, nostalgic music and Duras’ superb prose, uttered by off-screen voices as the mouths of the protagonists remain closed: the ever-invisible beggar woman from Lahore, the consul’s beautiful wife Anne-Marie Stretter (Delphine Seyrig), and the lovelorn vice consul, howling “her Venice name in deserted Calcutta.” Shot by master cinematographer Bruno Nuytten.

BIOGRAPHIES

Marguerite Duras (Gia Dinh, Indochina, 1914 - Paris, 1996), one of the towering figures of 20th century French literature, is associated both with the nouveau roman (new novel) and (feminine writing). She published her first novel, Les Impudents, in 1943. Her huge bibliography (73 books, including more than 40 novels) includes landmark texts such as Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952, The Sailor from Gibraltar, filmed by Tony Rchardson in 1966), Moderato cantabile (1958, filmed by Peter Brook in 1960), Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein (1964), L'Amante anglaise (1967, The English Lover), Détruire, dit-elle (1969, Destroys, She Said), and Agatha (1981). She reached a large popular audience with her semi-autobiographical novel, (The Lover, 1984), based on her experiences as a young girl born in French Indochina -- that won the prestigious Goncourt literary price, sold 1.5 million copies, was translated into 40 languages and made into an English-speaking film by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 1992. In 1991, she published a slightly different book, L'Amant de la Chine du Nord (The North China Lover), then, in Yann Andrea Steiner (1992); she created a "Durasian" hero based upon the companion with whom shared her life since 1980.

She also wrote a number of plays and screenplays -- the most famous being (1959), directed by Alain Resnais.

She knew no borders between the novel, the theatre, the cinema and journalism. For example, she first wrote Des journées entières dans les arbres (Whole Days in the Trees) as a short story, (1954), and then a play (1968) and finally into a film (1976). In 1967, she made La Musica (1967, co-directed with Paul Seban), the first of the 19 films she directed till Les Enfants in 1984.

Selected filmography: Détruire, dit-elle (1969); La Femme du Gange (1976); Le Camion (1977); Le Navire Night (1978); L'Homme Atlantique (1981).

Delphine Seyrig (Beirut, Lebanon, 1932 - Paris, 1990) has graced European cinema since her alluring performance as the mysterious woman in Alain Resnais' L'année dernière à Marienbad (1961). She had actually started her career (under the monicker of "Beltiane") in Alfred Leslie's and Robert Frank's famous avant-garde film Pull My Daisy, shot in New York in 1959. Following Marienbad, Seyrig acted for the best French directors: Alain Resnais (Muriel ou Le Temps d'un retour, 1963), François Truffaut (Baisers voles, 1968), Jacques Demy (Peau d'Ane, 1970). She also worked with Luis Buñuel (La Voie Lactée, 1969; Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, 1972) and was an exquisite Countess Bathori in the cult lesbian vampire film Daughters of Darkness (1971) by Dutch director Harry Kümel.

It is, however, with female directors that she developed a special bond. She made four films with Marguerite Duras (La Musica, 1967; India Song, 1975; Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta desert, 1976; , 1977) and three with the German avant-garde director Ulrike Ottinger (Freak Orlando, 1981; Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse, 1984; and Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia, 1989 -- her last screen appearance).

Her most noted collaboration was with Belgian-born director Chantal Akerman. She was unforgettable as the title role in Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) -- a film that marked the 1970s as thoroughly as India Song did. She continued working with her in Letters Home (1986) and The Golden Eighties (AKA Window Shopping, 1986).

A dedicated feminist, Seyrig directed militant films, that are currently being restored by the Centre Simone de Beauvoir in Paris: Maso et Miso vont en bateau (1975, Maso and Miso Go Boating) Scum Manifesto (1976) and the documentary Sois belle et tais-toi (1981, Be Seen and Not Heard) in which she interviews actresses.

http://www.calarts.edu/redcat/season/0506/fv/duras.php