Heat and Dust

Ishmail Merchant

Screenplay:

Ruth Prawler Jhabvala (The Golden Bowl, Howard’s End, A Room with a View)

Music:

Cast:

Anne: Julie Christie (Afterglow, Darling, Doctor Zhivago, Don’t Look Now, Dragonheart, Fahrenheit 451, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Go-Between, Heaven Can Wait, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Shampoo)
The Nawab: Shashi Kapoor (36 Chowringhee Lane, Bombay Talkie, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Shakespeare Wallah)
Olivia Rivers: Greta Scacci (The Coca Cola Kid, Cotton Mary, Emma, Jefferson in Paris, Man in Love, The Player, Presumed Innocent, The Red Violin, White Mischief, TV: The Ebony Tower, Dr Fischer of Geneva)
Douglas Rivers: Christopher Cazanove (From a Far Country, The Girl in Blue Velvet, Hold My Hand I’m Dying, Three Men and a Little Lady, TV: Cain and Abel, The Duchess of Duke Street, Dynasty, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill and Lady Killers, Lace 2, The Regiment, To Be the Best, Windmills of the Gods)
The Begum: Madhur Jaffrey (Autobiography of a Princess, Guru, Shakespeare Wallah…and her own TV cookery show)

Heat and Dust is a search to find and experience the life of the main character’s great aunt Olivia. Anne (Julie Christie) was inspired by Olivia’s trip to India in the 1920’s when she stayed with her husband Douglas (Christopher Cazenove) at his army post. Life didn’t quite fulfil her in the same way it did with him, surrounded by the trappings of the British middle-class.

It wasn’t just the splendour of the surroundings that captured her heart, but also of the prince of the state, the Nawab (Shashi Kapoor), which led to a life-changing situation that was certainly against the policies of his culture and his mother’s, the Begum (Madhur Jaffrey, one-time cooking expert on BBC2, specialising in rather different meals to those of Delia Smith).

Now, tracing her footsteps, Anne converses with the Nawab’s best friend Harry (Nickolas Grace), discovers all the things that have changed since the days of the Raj, as well as those that stay the same as history repeats itself and she finds herself falling for, not one, but two men, resulting in an equally and potentially devastating outcome.

The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.66:1, which means it’s not anamorphic, although it wouldn’t have hurt to place the 1.66:1 picture within a 16:9 frame and make that anamorphic. Any side black bars for 4:3-TV owners would most likely be lost to overscan at the sides if they had.

But they didn’t and what we’re left with is a fairly drab and unimpressive picture, in which all the colours look faded, particularly when zoomed in on a widescreen TV. If you choose to watch the subtitles, you can’t zoom it in further than 14:9, otherwise they’ll be cropped at the bottom. The average bitrate is a good 7.16Mb/s, hovering around over 8Mb/s.

The back cover states the sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 for English only, but while it comes across cleanly, there’s nothing in particular that will get the neighbours banging on the walls.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer : Just a mere 16 chapters stretching along the just-over-two-hour length. Certainly not enough though. The original theatrical trailer is included.

Languages and Subtitles : Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, with subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing in the same language.

And there’s more…: There’s a featurette: 30th Anniversary Merchant Ivory Promo, lasting little more than four minutes and recorded for Cinemax and announcing some of the films they’re showing in a special week-long tribute to the partnership. So, yes, slightly outdated. Also, the enclosed booklet provides some production notes, a synopsis and cast biographies.

Menu : A simple, but good-looking static menu with a shot of Greta Scacci and options to start the film, select a scene, watch the trailer or featurette, or choose subtitles.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Merchant Ivory films then this one will also be up your street, but rent it first as the picture quality isn’t all it could be. Also, make sure you’re not eating your dinner at the same time as when the doctor produces a twig and details what the less-ethical use it for. Harold Shipman’s probably got nothing on them…

FILM : ** PICTURE QUALITY: **½ SOUND QUALITY: **½ EXTRAS: ** ——————————- OVERALL: **

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.