All We Imagine as Light Review: LFF 2024

All We Imagine as Light is an achingly romantic ode to female friendship

In modern day Mumbai two nurse room mates are troubled by their romantic lives in the face of societal and personal expectations. All We Imagine as Light is the first Indian film to play in competition at Cannes Film Festival in 30 years, where it won the Grand Prix for director Payal Kapadia in her fiction feature debut.

Prabha (an enigmatic Kani Kusrati) is the older, more responsible of the pair. Between training new recruits at the hospital and covering the shortfall in rent from her shopaholic younger roommate she outwardly appears to have it all together. When she receives an unexplained and unexpected gift in the post from her estranged husband it throws up long buried feelings and questions – Prabha has successfully built her own life after he moved abroad leaving her behind, are things now set to change?

Meanwhile her younger roommate Anu (Divya Prabha) is outwardly carefree, running around the city trying to find a place in which she can be alone with her boyfriend in a society that doesn’t quite seem to have accepted casual dating yet. While Anu’s parents are continually sending her profiles of eligible bachelors in the hope of arranging a marriage, she worries that her Hindu family will not accept her Muslim boyfriend.

 The two women take a trip to a seaside town to help their newly widowed colleague Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) move house, and in the tranquillity of the countryside the harsh confines of the city fall away and each come to some life altering decisions.

All We Imagine as Light has a certain European feel to it, though set against the backdrop of Mumbai the bustling metropolis will feel distinctly familiar to anyone who has lived in a big city. Kapadia captures a place filled with diverse communities, countless millions who have moved to the city searching for jobs and freedom they can’t find at home in their villages, with the lure of possibility initially palpable. As voiceovers play over dreamy footage of a city ebbing and flowing with the daylight there’s a romantic quality captured to this way of life.

Yet also captured is the undeniable loneliness that comes with living in a big city, the isolation, the alienation and the ability to get lost when you are just one face among millions. Prabha seems to have stayed in an indecisive stasis since her husband left – providing care for everyone around her while finding next to no joy for herself. Anu is stifled by the constant eyes and judgement of those around her, her colleagues gossiping maliciously about her love life and telling on her to Prabha, who they assume will be equally prejudiced about her life style.

When Kapadia moves us out of the city in the second act and into the lush seaside town, All We Imagine as Light holds on to its hazy, dreamlike visual style but loosens its grip on reality – allowing its characters to parse out their real issues in scenarios that feel almost mythical. Though it flirts with surrealist elements, it never loses the feeling of being a relatable, real-life story about every day, real life people.

Ultimately a film about the power of female friendships, All We Imagine as Light is an understated, simply scripted but smartly told story powered by three brilliant performances. Vaguely reminiscent of the films of Wim Wenders, Kapadia’s love letter to Mumbai and the variety of women who call it home is a subtle film that will easily worm its way into viewers hearts.

All We Imagine as Light is playing at the BFI London Film Festival 2024. It will be released in UK cinemas on 29th November 2024

Check out more reviews from the London Film Festival 2024 here