A really beautiful and absorbing film from start to finish. The film develops by presenting the stories of the women within the same household.
~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~ Starting with the very sad story of Shabana Azmi's character visiting home, we learn more about the home life and the events that lead her back to her mother's home and as the movie progresses we have an insight into the lives of her mother when she was a young woman in love, then in turn the two daughter-in-laws in the house, and then finally to Shabana Azmi's daughter who the family view to be at a marriageable age.
With few songs and more story there is more scope for the director to cast a realistic look upon each of the characters and their temperaments and the viewer in turn feels for each of the women's predicament and pain.
~~~~~MORE Spoilers~~~~~~~
The name of the movie, i.e. fertility, interweaves throughout each woman's stories; The Shabana Azmi's story deals with the powerful subject of women providing a male heir and how her initial marriage built upon love gradually reduces to violence, mental and physical abuse and accusations that it is the women's fault that there is no male heir to continue the family line. Shabana Azmi's mother's tale is from her youth when she was in deeply in love with a man but due to the dying wish of her relative she is forced to not only accept the deceased woman's child but also to marry the deceased woman's husband and accept the role of head of the household. Her two daughter in laws reflect the symbol of fertility in different ways; one does not want any more children having now become weak from child bearing and the other is eager to have more, much to the distress of her husband. The story comes to a full and reflective circle in the form of Shabana Azmi's daughter whereby being at a marriagable age each woman take the role of encouraging the marriage much to the distress of the girl.
As the viewer you understand how events and situations have effected each woman in their stories, and also how psychologically it has affected their judgement and they are willing to apply the same mistakes that occurred with themselves. It is only from a shock to the system in the form of the matriarch of the family that the women realise that things do need to change and they have all formed greater changes within the family.
Overall a very touching story, made even more poingent as it is advertised to be based on a true story.
~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~ Starting with the very sad story of Shabana Azmi's character visiting home, we learn more about the home life and the events that lead her back to her mother's home and as the movie progresses we have an insight into the lives of her mother when she was a young woman in love, then in turn the two daughter-in-laws in the house, and then finally to Shabana Azmi's daughter who the family view to be at a marriageable age.
With few songs and more story there is more scope for the director to cast a realistic look upon each of the characters and their temperaments and the viewer in turn feels for each of the women's predicament and pain.
~~~~~MORE Spoilers~~~~~~~
The name of the movie, i.e. fertility, interweaves throughout each woman's stories; The Shabana Azmi's story deals with the powerful subject of women providing a male heir and how her initial marriage built upon love gradually reduces to violence, mental and physical abuse and accusations that it is the women's fault that there is no male heir to continue the family line. Shabana Azmi's mother's tale is from her youth when she was in deeply in love with a man but due to the dying wish of her relative she is forced to not only accept the deceased woman's child but also to marry the deceased woman's husband and accept the role of head of the household. Her two daughter in laws reflect the symbol of fertility in different ways; one does not want any more children having now become weak from child bearing and the other is eager to have more, much to the distress of her husband. The story comes to a full and reflective circle in the form of Shabana Azmi's daughter whereby being at a marriagable age each woman take the role of encouraging the marriage much to the distress of the girl.
As the viewer you understand how events and situations have effected each woman in their stories, and also how psychologically it has affected their judgement and they are willing to apply the same mistakes that occurred with themselves. It is only from a shock to the system in the form of the matriarch of the family that the women realise that things do need to change and they have all formed greater changes within the family.
Overall a very touching story, made even more poingent as it is advertised to be based on a true story.
