Using the camera for interpretation; Charulata

The movie Charulata is a very boring movie, in my opinion. However, the camera’s usage is quite interesting and becomes very resourceful in conveying the theme of the movie. In this movie, atleast at the beginning, there is not much dialogue. Still, with how the director used the camera and music, we notice the loneliness the director was trying to convey.

In the beginning there is a part where Charulata looks out her window and looks through her opera-like binoculars. The camera then takes the role of the binoculars by being put into short focal lense in a high angle. The contrast in how high up she was and how far away the outsiders were gave off the effect of separation and loneliness.

The 2/3 frontal look helped give this look as well. The camera emphasized Charulata, and since we could only see a portion of her face while the rest were the curtain shades, I sensed a trapped feeling. Focusing primarily on the shades, which appeared like thin bars also separated Charulata from humanity.

Lastly, although this might not give light to how lonely Charulata is through out the movie, the way the director lenses the eye during the swinging scene is very creepy-like and does distract me from the movie; the director here makes it seem as if the main character can see me, which confused me. I think what the director was trying to convey was despair and contemplation. If this is the case- breaking the imaginary curtain the author speaks about was not the way to go. Instead, he might have wanted to use a long focal length with a frontal 2/3 look, again, in order to capture Amal in the background while still making Charulata the center of attention. This would have also given us the idea that Amal was what Charulata was thinking about and what had her torn.