stanl-2

The photography was superbe, grandiose or intimate, always striking. OTOH, I (and my date) was unable to follow the story at all. Perhp[as if I knew more about Chinese geography and social customs it would have made more sense, but as it was it left me with nothing more than a huge dark question mark covering over any thought I might have had about the film, a physical rejection of the sound level of ports of it, but also with a trove of images - both nature, man-made, and of haunting faces that will not soon fade away. The one thing that provided some unity came to me afterward when I thought about the title and realized that the movement of the film is analogous to the tide -- washing out to sea bringing all kinds of things from elegant boats to detritus with it, then flowing back upstream.

Very powerful and devastating story of a 17 year-old girl growing up in a poor "banlieue" on Mauritius (French island, in the Indian Ocean). Based on a novel by Ananda Devi. Dark, poetic, violent (but not voyeuristically so). Full of psychological and socio-psychological insight, reflections on how to make a meaningful life, or at least how to strive for human dignity, in the most desperate of situations, or whether this is even possible. Beautiful.

All the actors are non-professionals; this is only the third full-length film produced in Mauritius. Incredible performance by the protagonist, in the role of Eve.

The film is directed by Harrikrisna Anenden and his son Shavan, with a script by the director's wife who is herself a renowned novelist and poet, author of a dozen or so well-received works. Although the novel is told from four separate points of view, for cinematographic purposes this has been completely reworks and the story is a deftly interwoven, polyphonic tale. It should perhaps also be mentioned that the film reflects the complex ethnic and linguistic mix of Mauritius.