Jonaki

Confined to a hospital bed, 80-year-old Jonaki (in Bengali, ionaki means firefly), in the last moments of her life recalls her one great love. Her stern mother and father forbade her from getting involved with a young Christian; they wanted a different husband for their daughter, a wealthy man with his own business who was also the owner of the local cinema. The woman recalls the most important and at the same time the most painful moments of her life. She never loses her awareness of having lost the fight for her own happiness. Sengupta has made another love story set in India's post-colonial era. In long, static shots, he tells the story of a lonely woman who has never known love. The story is told in the same way memory operates: threads are abandoned, only to return to them sometime later. In Jonaki's memories, darkness prevails, the shadows are thick and widespread, and everything she thinks about is at the point of disintegrating.