Heat & Dust

A persistent clash of cultures lies at the heart of Heat and Dust, the Merchant/Ivory team's most acclaimed drama prior to 1985's A Room with a View. The celebrated trio of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala were perfectly suited to this time-skipping story of thwarted romance, based on Jhabvala's novel, in which the colonial British find themselves perpetually at odds with the vibrant rhythms of India. In this most sensual of environments, two related British women, separated by six decades, discover that their independent spirits are not entirely welcomed within the confines of colonial etiquette. Olivia (Greta Scacchi) defies her stringent husband in the 1920s, while her great-niece Anne (Julie Christie) discovers, upon getting pregnant by an Indian local in the early '80s, that she and Olivia have more than a little in common. Jhabvala's feminism is subtle but forcefully dramatized, and under Ivory's sensitive direction, this tale of two women is a defiantly resonant tribute to love wherever one may find it. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

slow slow slow

too slow and too false.could not stay with it maybe some other time when there is nothing to do....and no other movies May 16, 2008

Women in Indian and British Society: Both victims,but both incredibly strong

What Merchant Ivory has always done well is to bring style,panache and social consciousness to tell the stories of those who are subjugated to second class citizenry. HEAT AND DUST is one of their earliest lavish productions that tell the plight of women and their unfortunate precast roles in British and Indian Society. The characters are strong and resourceful in face of the unfairness and inconsequentiality that a patriarchal society has pushed upon them.

Acting greats Greta Scacchi (here an ingenue) and Julie Christie (then a seasoned actress) play two women related by blood whose stories are paralled though sixty years apart. Aunt Olivia (Scacchi),a 1920's British Newlywed and her very Stayed British husband (Christopher Casanove) arrive in India at the sundown of British Colonial Rule. Civil uprising is already brewing. Gandhi is a new force on the scene. Hindi and Muslim are vying for power as British Imperialism is soon to come to an end. With this as the historical backdrop, Olivia is a young woman who finds herself willing to snub all convention and risk a scandalous affair with a Prince (or Nawab, played by Shashi Kapoor).The parallel story takes place in 1982 with grandniece Anne (Christie) fascinated in tracing Olivia's steps based on Olivia's kept correspondence by Anne's grandmother. Anne also dicovers in herself the same "wildness" that her Aunt had, and all of this is fueled by the crazy "heat and dust" that casts it's mystical and magical spell on those it touches(or so all of the men say is the problem affecting these "silly creatures"-women)This film is not without some very tongue-in-cheek wit and humour. The Nawab's mother for instance is a stitch!

The film's subplots also include historically accurate portrayals of the women of both the old and the new India. They are also caught in the web of mysogyny and are forced to survive any way they can.


One expects lush interpretation,gorgeous costumes and great set design from Merchant Ivory. You get it all here and then some. This film is beautiful and first rate in all respects. Unfortunately, some will dismiss this film as a "chick flick" or simply a "period piece" (terms that are demeaning).Those with love of history and social issues will benefit and be enormously instructed and entertained.


Coupled with the films GANDHI and A PASSAGE TO INDIA as well as the Deepa Mehta trilogy EARTH, FIRE and WATER, HEAT AND DUST serves to complete a well balanced and indepth look at British Occupation in India and the plight of women. Another Merchant Ivory Productions that also highlight womens issues is THE BOSTONIANS.
June 3, 2007

A gentle farce that spares nobody

If "A Passage to India" was the tragic version of the story, here is the corresponding farce. India at the dusk of British rule, between the World Wars; a young English woman, an Indian man, sex, scandal - but in Ruth Prawer Jhabavala's novel and the subsequent film (which she also wrote), the Indian guy is not an ingenuous, if naive, little doctor but a dubious, if charming, prince who runs a mafia-style organized-crime gang. Nobody is safe from Jhabvala's gently ironic perspective; nobody is a saint and nobody is a victim. The prince's chain-smoking mother is one jewel of a supporting role. For anyone who liked "A Passage to India" but found it too moraline-drenched, this is a truly funny and highly amusing version of the story. January 10, 2007

A Timeless Tale

It is helpful to view a number of Merchant Ivory productions in chronalogical order. Many deal with the position of women in society and how their individual personalties and life experiences guide them in dealing with their situations. Heat and Dust may seem a bit dated to the modern movie-goer, but it still manages to spin a classic story with some generational and ethnic twists that keep the viewer engaged. Top notch casting and elegant photography make this "personal" film seem guite heroic. August 23, 2005

Superb

I watched the movie almost twenty years back on Indian TV and was entranced by the romance of British India. I then ordered it on UK Amazon site, bought a code free DVD player, just to watch this movie. This is one of those rare instances when the movie is far better than the book. May be that has to do with the fact that the author was also the script writer. The cinematography is incomparable. The backbone of the story is the beautiful Greta Scachchi and her romance with an Indian prince. July 24, 2003

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