Finding or seeing this one is quite a challenge in the US.

When I first saw this, I did make some superficial, personal comparisons – Yasujiro Ozu and Eric Rohmer both sprang to mind. Like the best of both, this film is unhurried and methodical in its’ storytelling, and strikes something of a balance between the remarkable interpersoanl dialogue of Rohmer and the reliance on subtle gestures and eye contact we see in the films of Ozu and Mikio Naruse. Those filmmakers are all people Ray expressed some admiration for, without going so far as to mention them as influences (and his career predates most of the feature work of Rohmer), but as a film it certainly has some accidental (perhaps) similarities.

As with a few earlier films (most famously “Charulata”), this film does explore – with great subtleties – the slow changes in sexual politics in a conservative society like India – note the scene involving the park ranger and who resolves the conflict that emerges, and also note the picnic scene immediately afterwards. These scenes are extremely quiet and subtle in how they’re played out, but the underlying psychology is close to revolutionary.

The camera work is excellent throughout – very still, nearly meditative, and does a fantastic job of really pulling you into the characters.

Of Ray’s top-shelf films, this is one of the least discussed, but one of the best.