When Anne (Julie Christie) discovers a long-forgotten family scandal involving her deceased grandmother, Olivia (Greta Scacchi), she decides to investigate further by traveling to the scene of the crime: India. In the 1920s, Olivia had been married to an official in the colonial government, but had an affair with an Indian man that resulted in an abortion and disgrace. By coincidence, Anne also finds herself conducting an affair with an Indian man, and faces similar social prejudice.
“A persistent clash of cultures lies at the heart of “Heat and Dust”, the Merchant/Ivory team’s most acclaimed drama prior to 1985’s “A Room with a View”. The celebrated trio of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala were perfectly suited to this time-skipping story of thwarted romance, based on Jhabvala’s novel, in which the colonial British find themselves perpetually at odds with the vibrant rhythms of India. In this most sensual of environments, two related British women, separated by six decades, discover that their independent spirits are not entirely welcomed within the confines of colonial etiquette. Olivia (Greta Scacchi) defies her stringent husband in the 1920s, while her great-niece Anne (Julie Christie) discovers, upon getting pregnant by an Indian local in the early ’80s, that she and Olivia have more than a little in common. Jhabvala’s feminism is subtle but forcefully dramatized, and under Ivory’s sensitive direction, this tale of two women is a defiantly resonant tribute to love wherever one may find it.” –Jeff Shannon”
Starring Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Susan Fleetwood, Christopher Cazenove.
Rated R