Satyajit Ray - 1966
In a confined environment, Ray has a train teeming with complexities, refelcting social status. He uses many large face framings, depth is used, but not so large here for perhaps obvious reasons. Cutting is generally for emphasis, as usual dividing the characters at times, though there are also some nice two shots.
There are two interesting dream sequences here. The first seems Bergman-esque, with a blank mis-en-scene, long tracking camera, and the skeleton. The second is surely Wellesian, as are some, throughout, of the low framings and wide angled lenses.
This is a pretty downbeat tale from Ray, insofar as happiness, or at least a kind of forgiveness, seems a long way away. Ray avoids the false 'poor him' for the movie star by earning the usual cliche about 'emptiness', rather than just trotting it out. Of course, it still could jar, and probably fits best in comparison to Ray's other work across more diverse social strata than just here.
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