While her husband runs his newspaper, Charulata spends time reading, relaxing and spying on passers-by through her field glasses. But the arrival of her husband’s cousin sends ripples of adulterous desire through her pinned-butterfly existence, and sets her towards an artistic awakening as a writer.

Satyajit Ray’s personal favorite and arguably his most acclaimed film, this Rabindranath Tagore adaptation is a whirlwind of repressed desires and furtive yearning, intensified by impossibly sumptuous sets and stirring long takes. A searing, evocative study of artistic and romantic female agency.