Brick Lane

Rating: 

* * *

Verdict:

Good-looking and well-acted but dramatically underpowered version of the Monica Ali novel.

Reviewing Monica Ali's Man Booker-shortlisted novel in the

Guardian,

Natasha Walter wrote that she could not think of another "in which the politics of our times are caught with such easy vividness".

By contrast, the political aspects of the film version are distilled into a couple of scenes. The rest is really a "woman finds herself" story which feels dramatically underpowered. Part of that may be down to the extravagant use of voiceover: much of the original story was told through the main character's letters which, when voiced, tend to slow the dramatic momentum. Whatever the explanation, it's almost as if the film is too small for itself; the very handsome production design makes it seem overdressed.

It's the story of Nazneen (Chatterjee), sent from her Bangladeshi village at 17 for an arranged marriage to a much older man in London. The lyrical, not to say slightly syrupy, scene of her departure is made worse by the inanity that she is in bridal garb, rather than travelling clothes, but it does set up an effective contrast to the grim world of cramped tower-blocks flats where she soon finds herself.

Her husband Chanu (Kaushik) is a chubby loser who fancies himself as a businessman and entrepreneur. Crucially, the script, by Australian Laura Jones who wrote the screenplay for

An Angel at My Table

, does not make him a monster. He is rather a man out of his depth and it is plain that Nazneen comes to love him after a fashion. But, a virtual prisoner at home, she is slowly dying.

She begins to take in  sewing, and meets the dangerously handsome Karim (Simpson) who delivers her the stacks of jeans to hem. Then comes 9/11 and life for Muslims in the West will never be the same.

The announcement of the plan to make this film prompted protests in Banglatown, as its East End setting is known, from Bangladeshis angry at its depiction of immoral behaviour. Their threats forced a change in location and the Prince of Wales pulled the plug on a royal premiere. But they need not have worried: the completed film's tone is anything but shrill. Nazneen says that her mother once told her that "if Allah wanted us to ask questions, he would have made us men" but the line is delivered in a wistful indulgent tone; it is not charged with passion about injustice and repression.

Visually, the film (shot by the man who did the recent good-looking Glasgow stalker thriller

Red Road

)

is enchanting, particularly in the gloomy interiors; the performances are terrific (Begum as Nazneen's eye-rolling teenager is a knockout); the love scenes are electric. But, sincere and serious though it is, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Peter Calder

Cast:

Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson,

Naeema Begum

Director:

Sarah Gavron

Running time:

101 mins

Rating:

M

(sex scenes and offensive language)

Screening:

Rialto