Like I stated, this movie based on the book Tess of the d'Urbervilles stars the beautiful Frida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire and Rise of the Planet of the Apes fame. She of course plays Trishna and it seems Michael Winterbottom fell in love with her look because Frida is in practically EVERY frame of this film. If it wasn't a shot of the countryside, the shore of a beach, or the urban landscape then it was a shot of Frida. Now of course she wasn't in this film alone, her co-star is the very talented, and charming Riz Ahmed who plays Jay. He was in the hilarious Four Lions film (which I highly recommend by the way). Those are the primary players in this movie, everyone else has a bit part including the great Roshan Seth. If you saw the classic Mississippi Masala then you know him, he played Meena's father. He was there and gone in almost a blink of an eye.
Michael wanted you to focus on Trishna and Jay and no one else. That may have been this movies slight downfall. I say that because you get to see Frida emote only two emotions, sad and sadder. Trishna was a character that embodies the phrase "the power of subtlety" which is what makes the ending of this film all the more shocking. The story isn't a remake of Tess but more of a re-imagining and instead of the story taking place in 19th century England, it's set in the India of today. Danny Boyle did a great job showing you how profound the class system is in Slumdog and Michael picks up on that here. Trishna is poor, poorer than poor while Jay is...not. Jay takes one look at Trishna and in enthralled and since Jay gets whatever Jay wants he finds a way to get Trishna. Operating one of his dads hotels he hires Trishna, who is working part time in a hotel already is hired by Jay to work full time at his.
Jay eventually seduces Trishna after rescuing her from two very aggressive men in the dark streets of the village they are in. They have a night of passion and Trishna leaves the next day for home without a word to anyone. Jay finds her and asks her to move with him to Bombay where "no one will care that we're together" and she agrees. Trishna basically agrees to everything Jay asks or says so I am still scratching my head at the ending. Maybe Trishna did what she did because she knew Jay would never let her go. Maybe she knew that because of the differences in their statuses that no one would encourage her to leave Jay, not even her family. Trishna was the primary bread winner for her family and basically being Jay's sex slave has allowed her did to buy a new jeep and allowed her younger siblings to go back to school. In that case I can see why she did what she did to Jay but I can't see why she did what she did to herself. :Insert headscratch here:
Visually the movie is stunning but I would think it would be hard to make a movie in India and have it not look amazing. The colors abound as does the chaos of the city. It looks like frenzied madness actually, captured very well by cinematographer Marcel Zyskind. The music defies words it was that good. There was one central theme playing throughout that was impactful whether it was upbeat and happy or mournful. It was a masterful job by Shigeru Umebayashi as well as Amit Trivedi who was the man behind the songs of Trishna. Their music set the tables perfectly for the film.
Do I recommend Trishna, over Spider Man absolutely. Would I recommend it on it's own? I am not really sure. If you like Frida Pinto then see it (the only actress who was in almost every scene as Frida was in this movie was Nicole Kidman in Birth). If you want a tragic love story and have two hours to spare, see it. If you want something meaningful, something impactful then see something else and I'll see you at the theater.
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