One of the reasons I’ve loved “A Passage To India” since the day I saw it in 1984 is because of its seductive inconclusiveness. There are moments in the film that are not fully explained – and one particular event in it remains a mystery – open to interpretation. The film was also David Lean’s last film. The master of epic filmmaking – the auteur of “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Dr. Zhivago,” “Brief Encounter,” “Summertime” among others – creates a meditative poem about the miracles as well as the darkened corridors of human behavior while exploring colonialism, cultural mistrust, prejudice, religion and the nature of relationships.
Based on E.M. Forster’s landmark novel, “A Passage to India” was written as well as edited by David Lean. It is set in the 1920s during the period of the British Raj. It tells the story of the interactions of several characters, Dr. Aziz, Mrs. Moore, Adela Quested and Richard Fielding, in the fictional city of Chandrapore. When newcomer to India Adela accuses Aziz of an attempted rape on a day trip Marabar Caves, the city is split between the British elite and the native underclass and friendships and loyalties are tested. The fact that you never know what happened in the caves is extraordinary – for your loyalty or inherent bias as a viewer is also tested.
There are two contrasting lyrical passages that are sublime. Aging Mrs. Moore and Adela – who have both recently arrived – both want to see the real India – a wish that is discouraged. Mrs. Moore takes a walk to a temple by moonlight. Adela the following day stumbles into another temple in ruins with erotic statues and wild monkeys. Both scenes are lynchpins – and exemplary feats of filmmaking.
Lean created gorgeous visual landscapes with his lens and deposited his characters in them in stark contrast. The environment becomes another essential character in the story. The India that Lean shows us is enigmatic and awe-inspiring. There are moments in this film that take my breath away. The elephant caravan on its way to the caves is one of those. Wow!
Maurice Jarre’s score won an Oscar. Judy Davis was 28 when David Lean cast her in this. She was nominated for Best Actress. Renowned theatre actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft was reluctant to take the role of Mrs. Moore – which ultimately earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. “Mrs. Moore! Mrs. Moore!” (when you see the film, you will understand.)
Mrs. Moore: “Life rarely gives us what we want at the moment we consider appropriate. Adventures do occur, but not punctually.”
Love,
Roger
Available to rent on Vudu, Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.
Screenplay by David Lean
Directed by David Lean
Starring: Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers, Victor Banerjee and Roshan Seth
164 minutes
About Writer and Director David Lean
“Born the son of an accountant in the fashionable London suburb of Croydon, Lean grew up the older of two brothers in a strict Quaker household that looked with disapproval on the cinema. His initial exposure to movies came through the family charwoman he remembered as a “Mrs. Egerton,” who would re-enact with great zeal the latest Charlie Chaplin film. As he recalled decades later, the first film he saw was a 1921 version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes mystery “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” But it was not until he was 19 that Lean embarked on his career in films after an unsuccessful yearlong stint at his father’s accounting firm. He was taken on without pay at London’s Gaumont Studios as a “gofer,” where his primary duties were to fetch tea and load film. From unpaid underling he quickly became “number-board boy,” responsible for holding up the cards that designated camera takes. After a short time at this and other positions, including camera assistant, he eventually achieved the title of “third assistant director. From editing, Lean turned his attention to directing. His first assignment came in 1942, when playwright Noel Coward asked him to co-direct his wartime film “In Which We Serve.” (The Los Angeles Times) A few of Lean’s films include This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945), Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), One Woman’s Story (1949), Madeleine (1950), Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952), Hobson’s Choice (1954), Summertime (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Zhivago (1965), Ryan’s Daughter (1970), and A Passage to India (1984).
The Origin of EM Forster’s Story
“At the time that he embarked on A Passage, Forster was at a curious point in his creative life. All of his other published novels were written in a flurry between 1905 and 1910. He had published some short stories too, but there are strong indications that his novelistic impulses were running dry. His motive for going to India was to see Syed Ross Masood, a young Indian man whom he’d befriended in 1906 and with whom he was deeply in love. The affection was lopsided: Forster had twice declared his feelings, but Masood was straight and couldn’t reciprocate. Nevertheless, the two men were close, and when Masood completed his legal studies and returned to India, Forster followed a few months later. By then, the country had already started to exercise his imagination. Masood had talked about it with Forster and had put the idea into his head of writing an Indian novel. It was enough of a possibility for Forster to have mentioned it to his publisher before he left. From the outset, the notion of an Indian novel was inseparable from Masood. “But for him,” Forster reflected years later, “I might never have gone to his country, or written about it … I didn’t go there to govern it or to make money or to improve people. I went there to see a friend.” (The Guardian)
The Making of A Passage to India
“…when Lean geared up to make another film in the early 1980s, an adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel “A Passage to India,” few studios expressed interest. Lean found himself writing the script without payment as John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin, the film’s producers, scouted for financial backers. In the end, through a rather tortuous deal struck with EMI, Columbia Pictures and Home Box Office, the team received the go-ahead. The director was back, and he had something to prove. “The most dreadful lies were told about me at the time. It was said that I’d become swollen-headed, that I would ruin companies,” Lean fumed. “I heard the stories. . . . I was so furious when I heard the rumors that I thought, ‘I’ll show them. I’ll make this film and I’ll make it quickly.’ And from start to finish it took just over a year.” Lean was 76 at the time. With Victor Banerjee, Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis and old friend Guinness leading the cast, and with Lean headlining as screenwriter-director-editor, the film opened in 1984 to a warm reception. Ashcroft won an Oscar for her role and said of Lean on Tuesday that “he worked right up to the end, didn’t he? And what an achievement that was.” (The Los Angeles Times)