Trishna ***

After sitting through the pretentious, boring drivel that was Broken Flowers last week, anything that I watch from now on has to be at least slightly more interesting. So in the usual search for something to watch on Netflix I stumbled across this relatively unknown Brit film shot in India, 2011's Trishna.

It's based on the story of Thomas Hardy's classic novel Tess of The D'Urbervilles, something I have not read but my sister revealed she has studied in her English class.

It tells the story of the film's lead Trishna (Freida Pinto) as she struggles to balance providing for her family and a new love interest, British businessman Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed)

After befriending Trishna on a night out, they reconnect again after Trisha and her father are involved in an accident crashing the family jeep. Jay in his bid to help and get closer to Trishna offers her work in his father's hotel as a maid, money she can send back to her struggling family. The story unfolds as Trishna must balance the love for her family, her own morality, and the love for Jay. It soon becomes clear that Jay is not all that he seems, leading to a dramatic and unexpected ending.

Most of what we see of Trishna shows us that she can be naive, probably influenced on a subconscious level by the manipulative Jay. Jay represents the disturbing aspect of society that still exists controlling and dominating women for their own gratification.

On a technical level the film is interesting, shots of bustling India are intercut with night life, and random shots of people who appear once and are not seen again for the rest of the film. The soundtrack is typical Bollywood and presents a traditional feel of mythical India, but this too is intercut with modern British dance music and in one unsettling scene in which Jay 'celebrates' their anniversary by forcing her to dance for him, the disturbing tones of UK trip-hop band Portishead.  

The ending was probably the most powerful aspect of the film, leaving the audience shaken on how events have led Trishna to this point.

It's an interesting film, otherwise pretty unmemorable if not for the ending, and definitely a more satisfying watch than Broken Flowers, although that's not saying too much.