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Film review: With You, Without You

The long-drawn out ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is the backdrop of this tale of an unlikely couple, ?With You, Without You?.

Rating: **

Cast: Shyam Fernando, Anjali Patil, Wasantha Moragoda, Maheshwari Ratnam

Director: Prasanna Vithanage

The long-drawn out ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is the backdrop of this tale of an unlikely couple, ?With You, Without You?. Middle-aged pawnshop owner Sarathsiri ( Fernando) is drawn to the young Selvi ( Patil) during a transaction. Marriage follows, as does a brief interlude of getting to know each other. An old friend?s ( Moragoda) unexpected visit reveals secrets buried in the past, and out tumble old wounds.

Award-winning director Prasanna Vithanage does a good job with sketching his characters with economy. What?s even nicer is the way dialogues are kept to a minimum. Silence plays a large part in underlining the atmosphere, and Vithanage shows us just how effective it can be. Selvi?s eyes do the talking as she blooms and withers; Sarathsiri?s dourness, which colours their initial relationship, is even more effective. So is the quiet that descends upon them when the cracks begin showing : Selvi is a Tamil war victim ; Sarathsiri is a former Sri Lankan army soldier.

There are some eloquent moments that point to the differences between the newly-weds, which is not just about age : he watches WWF bouts, volume cranked up; she learns to make him happy, prancing about the dining table, with a little bit of help from an elderly cook ( Ratnam).

Fernando underplays well; Patil is more on the surface. But the trouble lies in another direction. The man and the woman are not given enough to play with : it?s their brutal histories which are driving them apart, but we don?t see as much of it as we need to . For an audience not well versed in Sri Lankan history, there isn?t too much information about the conflict, and without enough context, the impact lessens.

(Follow Shubhra Gupta on Twitter. You can also send your feedback at shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com)

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First published on: 22-06-2014 at 21:05 IST
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