“The action takes place in Bengal. Three young women are in love with one of their cousins wounded during the war, who decides to leave rather than have to choose one among the three of them. It is more than anything else a film about British colonialism as seen through the eyes of a teenager. This film was inspired by the novel by Rumer Godden, who also wrote the scenario with Renoir. Jacques Rivette describes the film as ‘the only example of a film vigorously reflecting itself, in which the narrative structure, the metaphysical themes and the sociological descriptions not only answer one another but are in every way interchangeable....' Some of Renoir's critics dislike intensely the spiritualism which permeates the film, seeing it as the final transition towards what they consider to be Renoir's renunciation of his earlier commitment. It is technically different from Renoir's other films; the color photography by his nephew Claude Renoir has often been noted and admired by the filmmakers of the French New Wave (though a fine Technicolor print of the film such as the one we present tonight is rare).” --Bertrand Augst