Heat and Dust

1983 2h 13m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 46

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal. As Anne delves into the history of her grand-aunt, she is led to reconsider her own life.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Julie Christie
Anne
Greta Scacchi
Olivia Rivers
Shashi Kapoor
The Nawab
Nickolas Grace
Harry Hamilton-Paul
Christopher Cazenove
Douglas Rivers
Zakir Hussain
Inder Lal, Anne's landlord
Julian Glover
Crawford
Susan Fleetwood
Mrs. Crawford

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Ivory
Writers: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Languages: Hindi, English, Urdu
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

43 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Hindi, English, Urdu.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Ivory, shot by Walter Lassally. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Richard Robbins. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Humphrey Dixon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Julie Christie and Greta Scacchi and Shashi Kapoor carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0084058 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 46 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Ivory directs. Walter Lassally behind the camera. Richard Robbins scores. Humphrey Dixon cuts. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Hindi, English, Urdu.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

143 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Hindi, English, Urdu.
3Directed by James Ivory, shot by Walter Lassally. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Richard Robbins. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Humphrey Dixon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Julie Christie and Greta Scacchi and Shashi Kapoor carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0084058 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 46 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "based on novel or book", "family history", "india", "extramarital affair".

The technical file

Cinematography: Walter Lassally
Original score: Richard Robbins
Editing: Humphrey Dixon
Production design: Wilfred Shingleton
Costume design: Barbara Lane
Makeup / hair: Gordon Kay
Runtime: 133 min · 2h 13m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Heat and Dust (1983)

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James Ivory

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-01
★ 6/10
It's not really too surprising that it was only Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adaptation of her own novel that garnered any attention on the awards circuit from this film. Otherwise, it's a rather sterile story of mischief amongst the Raj that rather left me cold. The plot centres around the investigations of "Anne" (Julie Christie) into the goings-on in the 1920s that involved her lively great-aunt "Olive" (Greta Scacchi). Now this lady had only recently arrived to be with her new husband "Douglas" (Christopher Cazenove) and is swiftly immersed in the upper-class colonial lifestyle that sees her hobnobbing with the British establishment and with the local Nawab (Shashi Kapoor) who plays the game, subtly, for all it's worth. Meantime, we are aware of the precariousness of all of this as bandits maraud the countryside and anti-British sentiment is never far away. As "Anne" learns more about her relative, she begins to ask herself a few questions about her own life - and those imponderables lead her to begin to reevaluate who she is. It's a great looking film to watch, but somehow nobody ever manages to inject any passion or soul into their characters. Even the sex scenes come across strangely unemotional - in any sense. Christie worked far better for me in an earthier, more visceral, role and with the possible expception of Susan Fleetwood's "Mrs. Crawford", most of the cast were just too comfortable with there allocated persona. They came across as if they really could be the fatuous, entitled, cheating individuals - and I found that a little bit dull. There's plenty of dust, but heat? See what you think....

Production companies