I first became aware of the film All We Imagine As Light towards the end of 2024, as it started to drum up critical acclaim. This film won the Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director at the Golden Globes. I finally managed to catch a screening of All We Imagine As Light very recently. When I sat down on a Tuesday night in Bantry in a surprisingly packed theatre, my expectations were pretty high. When the film ended, I walked back to my car and cried. Then I picked up my phone and called my mum, even though she was not going to understand why I was left feeling both devastated and uplifted.
All We Imagine As Light is writer and director Payal Kapadia’s second feature film. The story follows two women who live together and work in a busy hospital in Mumbai. Prabha (Kani Kusruti), the older of the two women, is married, though she has not seen her husband in years since he moved to Germany for work. Her younger roommate, Anu (Divya Prabha), is secretly dating a Muslim boy, despite her parents’ efforts to arrange her marriage to a Hindu man.
In an interview with Ella Kemp for Letterboxd, Kapadia explains that she “wanted to not have a solution of what is a perfect woman who knows everything and has a very clear worldview, but to see all of them confused and figuring life out.” Prabha and Anu have a very meaningful relationship in this film. They care for each other, they sometimes resent each other, and they learn from each other. One of the reasons that this film resonated with me is that it highlights the importance of community among women of all ages. It encourages us to lift each other up.
The first half of the movie is a typical, slow-paced, slice-of-life story. The performances are honest and believable, and the hectic yet bleak backdrop of Mumbai helps to contribute to this sense of realism. At this stage, while the film demonstrated impressive craftsmanship and enjoyable storytelling, I felt as though I would leave the cinema and forget this film all too quickly. I am so glad that I was wrong.
In the latter half of All We Imagine As Light, Prabha and Anu travel to a small seaside town to help a friend who has been forced to move out of her apartment in the city. It was at this point that I started to fall in love with the film. As the scenery changes and we leave behind bustling yet dreary Mumbai, the film truly finds its heart. Our two protagonists’ seemingly unrelated paths come together in a poignant way that really drives home the meaning behind the film. I was particularly impressed and delighted by the way that this film started to blend fiction and reality. The artistic choices that Payal Kapadia makes are bold and refreshing, from the striking use of colour to the joyous soundtrack. All We Imagine As Light hits every emotional beat with great force and precision. It was such a joy to experience this film on the big screen, and I would confidently call this one of my favourite films of 2024.
