The River (1951 film)

The River is a 1951 film directed by Jean Renoir. It was filmed in India, and was seminal to the launching of the careers of Satyajit Ray, who assisted on the film, and Subrata Mitra, Ray's cinematographer whom he met during the filming of The River.

A dramatization of an earlier literary work of the same name (The River, authored by Rumer Godden), the movie attests to a teenager's first love, and how her heart was broken when the man she fell in love with, was smitten with her older sister instead.

Harriet (played by Patricia Walters) belongs to an upper middleclass English family residing on the banks of the Ganges River in India. Her father is active in the jute trade, and she has five sisters. Her only brother, nearly ten years her junior, wants to learn how to tame cobras with a flute. Her family life turns topsy turvy after her father invites his cousin, Captain Jack, to live with him on the plantation. When Captain Jack arrives, the girls discover he has lost one leg in the war. Nevertheless, he has an atmosphere of charm and sophistication such that the daughters had never seen before. They are all understandably smitten with him.

One day, somewhat after the festival of Diwali, Harriet follows Captain Jack and her oldest sister to a point on the river bank where they think they are alone. It is there that Captain Jack trades a passionate kiss with her. Seeing them kiss, Harriet loses the will to live. Preferring to die, she runs away from home that night and attempts to commit suicide by floating down the river in an unattended canoe-like raft-boat. The river should not be navigated at night, as there are strong currents and very high waves, and two or three men are usually needed to row the boat against the current. Dying on the river, as from a boat that takes on water, would certainly have the appearance of an accident, but she takes things a step further by lowering herself into the water. Her death would have been a sure thing had some native boys not see her steal the boat, and rallied after the stolen craft.

Later in the movie, we discover that Captain Jack has a much deeper interest in his cousin's twenty-ish, mix-blooded daughter Melanie - a sole daughter from an unsuccessful first marriage to an Indian national. Unlike the five other daughters in the movie, Melanie is not deluded by Captain Jack's bearing, and finds him more overbearing than seductive.

Other Movies Similar to The River

God's Little Acre - A single man has three daughters and appears incapable of having male offspring.

External links

• Ian Christie essay at criterionco.com