The World of Apu, or Apur Sansar

bristol | media and culture | event notice Tuesday June 23, 2009 13:04 by Nick Thomas - The Pierian Centre info at pieriancentre dot com The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA 0117 924 4512

The Pierian Centre's Film Night for June is Apur Sansar – the final part of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, and a self-contained, stand-alone classic. If you’ve followed the spell-binding journey of Apu through boyhood and adolescence, then you’ll certainly want to find out what happens next. If you haven’t, then come and enjoy a film that’s “simple in its means and profound in its impact.” (Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Movies)

The story takes Apu into adulthood and an “accidental” marriage that brings him unexpected happiness. The performance of Sharmila Tagore as his young wife, Aparna, is a revelation. “Magic is a word that's tossed about much too liberally," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, "but that's precisely what happens when Ray fixes his camera on Tagore's shy, exquisite face.” But his happiness is short-lived – and it is Apu’s relationship with his son that forms the heart of the unfolding narrative.

Ray’s film-making has a confidence and humanity that took the world’s breath away when his Apu films first appeared. Newsweek called the first part "one of the most stunning first films in movie history". But when Apur Sansar was released, Variety felt it “compares with its predecessors in knowing insight, poetics and ability, but surpasses them in craftsmanship….. With greater technical means, [Ray] makes the truth of his relationships and the revelation of India the main trumps of the film. Wit, tenderness and intrinsic human revelations illuminate this unusual film.”

The screening is at 7.30pm on Sunday 28th June – with the Bar open from 7pm. Tickets are £4.50, with concessions for the genuinely hard-up – and booking is strongly recommended on 0117 924 4512 or info@pieriancentre.com. See you here at the Pierian Centre for what James Berardinelli called “one of the most equally wrenching, uplifting, and cathartic motion pictures I have experienced!”