Film Review of Heat and Dust…
The film „Heat and Dust“, based on the novel of the same title is a film by Merchant Ivory Prodctions. The screenplay was written by the author of the novel, Ruth Prawer Ihabvala.
The film actually includes two stories. The one of Olivia, in the 1920’s and Anne’s story in the 1970’s.
The film basically has the same plot as the novel, but obviously the author made some changings for the screenplay and some characters may not be presented in the way they are in the book but all in all I think the movie is made quite good.
The action is that a young Englishwoman, Anne, comes to India in the 1970’s to research for the footsteps of her great-aunt Olivia who lived in India in around 1923. By discovering more and more the different aspects of Olivia’s life, she falls in love with her landlord Inder Lal. He already has a family but his wife is mentally ill and so his life is quite difficult and not satisfying. When his mother, his wife and the children go for a pilgrimage, the relationship gets even more and more deeper. On one of her excursions, Anne makes the acquaintance of a young Canadian man who now calls himself Chid after he had a spiritual healing by a guru. He is a very strange character I think. In the end she becomes pregnant by Inder Lal and is unsure whether she should keep the baby or rather have an abortion…
The story of Anne’s great-aunt Olivia shows many parallels to Anne’s experiences in India. Olivia is the wife of a young British Junior officer during the British Raj. Douglas, her husband is working very much and so she mostly has to spend the days alone in the bungalow of the couple. One day, an Indian prince called „Nawab“ invites to a party in his palace in the town of Kathm, a town near to Satipur, where Olivia and Douglas live. She is so fascinated by the Nawab that she begins to visit the palace without the knowledge of Douglas. She and the Nawab begin to have a relationship as well and Olivia gets pregnant. She now is in a very difficult situation because she and Douglas tried to get a baby as well and she doesn’t definitely know whose baby it is. She doesn’t want to lose neither of her lovers.
The Heat and Dust Page 
