Entrapped in a canvas of subtlety, sparseness and soundlessness

At the outset, I was charmed and entrapped by the greenery of the forest, the vividly contrasting light and shade, the deep calming, brooding silence, interspersed by bird calls and the shrill cries of our simian ancestors. The deceptively cloudless atmophere was tinged with a sense of mystery, of foreboding.

We soon see the two principal male actors, the older Dr Gerard, eminent primatologist, and his much younger assistant, Sunimal. Dr Gerard pursuing his all-absorbing passion, points silently at a troop of monkeys and the young cameraman takes a quick ‘shot’, and the two move on, at perfect ease, until Sunimal asks, ‘Why is it that Pam never joins us?’

There is a sudden change. A tension creeps in, a tension trapped by the camera. ‘What made you suddenly think of Pam?’ ‘I thought she might like to see the beauty of the jungle.’ ‘No, no, she has everything she wants at home. A woman’s place is in the home. It is the man’s right to roam freely unhampered.’

A key feature of this production is the: restraint with which the central, hackneyed theme, ‘the eternal triangle’, is handled. The ‘action’ trickles along quietly. The usual familiar ingredients of the commonplace triangle are not there – the secret assignations, the stolen kisses, the recriminations, the jealous bouts of anger, the bitter quarrels.

While there is suggestive evidence of a growing attachment, emotions are held under tight rein. Their expression is displayed tenderly, often symbolically. Infidelity is internalized rather than expressed physically. This restraint leads to a build up of a sharp, tense feeling of frustration. This is particularly so in the case of the woman, torn between a socially dictated sense of morality, and of loyalty towards an egocentric, chauvinistic, dominating husband, (clearly their marriage was of the conventional pattern, arranged by parents looking for a ‘solid’ man, with ‘letters behind his name’) lacking in sensitivity to the emotional needs of his spirited, warm blooded much younger wife, and a budding emotional attachment to this young, full-blooded, sensitive, obviously bewitched young man.

The drama of the interplay of complex and competing emotions is played out and presented with commendable control and finesse. Even the dominating Gerard exercises uncharacteristic restraint, as it dawns on him, that his dominance is being challenged. He never directly confronts the couple. Instead, from time to time, he settles for the ruse of leaving the couple alone, encouraging them to interact with each other.These little ‘investigations’ culminate in that last, inhuman experiment, in which his own wife and his dutiful (professionally speaking) assistant become the entrapped and unsuspecting subjects.

The sound of silence prevails throughout the film, heightening the sense of foreboding, bringing into sharper focus the tension of this socially unacceptable relationship, and giving added emphasis to the soothing sounds of Sunimal’s brooding music, and the dark, haunting and terrifying sounds that accompany Pam’s forbidden, progressively heightening, increasingly tormented emotions, and the ominous loud, weird jungle sounds wafted around during the search for the lost Gerard.

Speech was almost taboo, gesture and facial expression ‘talked’ through the eye of a cleverly handled camera. Never were these movements or subtle changes of expression overdone, or inappropriate. Even Guneris, a mere bystander, adds to the ever-present tension, when he first encounters Pam and offers her a ‘welcome’ which at best is lukewarm. His eyes shifting within the triangle, express the forebodings of a man who knows the two men well, and fears the conflict building up around this woman, this intruder!

This film is not about three, exceptional people, placed in unusual circumstances. No, it is about ordinary men and women, at all times, in all places – creatures of circumstance. So many men and women have found themselves in similar circumstances, so many at this very moment will be facing a similar situation, and so many will in the future find themselves in a similar trap.

On reflection, sparseness is a word that comes to mind. I have already mentioned the ‘welcome’ accorded to Pam by Guneris, a camera sequence which ‘said’ so much, so economically. Then, the incident of the wild, (was it forbidden?) orchid, Pam’s obviously flirtatious and suggestive challenge to Sunimal to pluck it for her if he were so inclined, the tender loving care she bestowed upon it, and the knowing, suggestive comment of the old retainer, the single shot of Pam nursing the precious, wild flower flanked on either side, by the two competing males.

At the very outset, hinting of things to come, is another brief, sequence, of a seemingly innocuous, but surely suggestive, flirtatious gesture, when Pam tosses her car keys to Sunimal with a strange, bold and twinkling look on her face. Was that travelling key a ‘flying kiss’? Sunimal’s soft caress and kiss of Pam’s towel or scarf needs no comment. The camera uses footage economically and with telling effect.

A few blemishes on an otherwise striking canvas. The bathing sequences could have been shortened. The insensitive Gerard spouting poetry seemed unconvincing. The dream sequence was cleverly handled, but Pam bringing it up at the breakfast table seemed a needless ‘give-away’, clearly indicating that she and Sunimal had met at least very early in the morning, if not still earlier! The detailed Freudian explanation seemed unnecessary and forced.

Yet, these are little stains in what I would otherwise consider a truly rounded, wholly satisfying, artistic production, worthy of presentation at an international film festival. To the quintet of script writer, director and the trio of principal players I raise ‘a glass of brandy’, and say ‘Cheers’!

To the regular film-goer, I would say, ‘this film is worth seeing, if for nothing else, than the fact that it is different from what you are used to seeing’. Furthermore, the film shown at the Regal in Colombo carries English subtitling, so language is no barrier.