This film is a landmark in feminine avant-garde aesthetics. Because of its painfully slow rhythm throughout the film, the spectator is forced to take a certain distance and a critical position to the way the film has been constructed: she/he can no longer reconcile with an illusion pretending to reflect the world as we are used to seeing it being represented ( > conventional aesthetics of cinema ), but is on the contrary obliged to take an active, intellectual position thinking about the narrative structure of this work of art - and furthermore - what might this characteristic of the film represent. In fact, the slow rhythm along with the sensual colours, shapes, perfumes and sounds transmitted through the film could easily be seen to reflect Duras'conception of "jouissance féminine".
Review of India Song
