TWO DAUGHTERS Movie Review

Teen Kanya

This exquisite two-part film by India's Satyajit Ray was adapted from stories by Nobel Prize—winner Rabindranath Tagore. In “The Postmaster,” a young man from the city becomes the new postman for a small rural village. A ten-year-old orphan girl befriends him and cares for him when he contracts malaria, but the primitive conditions of the village are too much for him, and he must break the child's heart by telling her he can't stay. In “The Conclusion,” a young college graduate resists the girl that the matchmakers have chosen. He selects his own bride instead, but things do not turn out as he imagined. These two tales about the unexpected discovery of love—its different forms, joys, and disappointments—complement each other in an unforced, delicately beguiling way. This is a glowing and complete work of art—not to be considered as simply two short movies stitched together. Gently funny, elegant, and humane, Two Daughters warms the spirits like a rare, smooth, generously poured cognac.

NEXT STOP … Mahanagar, Days and Nights in the Forest, Rendezvous in Paris

1961 114m/B IN Chandana Banerjee, Anil Chatterjee, Soumitra Chatterjee; D: Satyajit Ray; W: Satyajit Ray; C: Soumendu Roy; M: Satyajit Ray. VHS COL