Criterion ChannelIn Mumbai, Nurse Prabha's routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest.
Nov. 14, 2024. All We Imagine as Light. NYT Critic’s Pick. Directed by Payal Kapadia.In time, all three the women grow closer, and their lives become more intertwined, a shift that the writer-director Payal Kapadia develops with unforced naturalness and a remarkable lightness of touch. Kapadia has a background in documentary — this is the first feature-length fiction film she’s directed — and she integrates brief streets scenes of a thrumming Mumbai throughout “All We Imagine as Light.”
The film’s title, “All We Imagine as Light,” reflects its central themes of hope and personal illumination amidst adversity. The light in the film is both literal and metaphorical, symbolizing the characters’ internal strength and their search for meaning in a world that often feels indifferent. The film ultimately suggests that the true light lies within the characters themselves and the bonds they form with one another, rather than in the city that surrounds them.
