Published to great acclaim in 2003, Monica Ali's debut novel Brick Lane garnered rapturous reviews and
countless award nominations both in the UK and internationally. A sharply observed story about...
Published to great acclaim in 2003, Monica Ali's debut novel Brick Lane garnered rapturous reviews and
countless award nominations both in the UK and internationally. A sharply observed story about the life
of a Bangladeshi immigrant girl who comes to London to marry, it is ultimately a universal story about life,
love, cultural difference and the power of the human spirit.
On reading the novel, producer Alison Owen was immediately attracted to the story and saw its potential
as a film: "I read 'Brick Lane' and I fell in love with it, and enquired about the option straight away.
However, it wasn't an easy project and so I didn't follow it up immediately, but it just haunted me for the
next couple of months. I kept thinking about it and eventually I just gave into the urge, bought the rights
and started putting the package together."
Once a first draft of the screenplay had been completed, Owen could see the direction that the project
was taking, but realizing that it still needed a lot of work, she thought it a good time to bring a director on
board, and approached Sarah Gavron. Explains Owen: "Sarah's a director with extremely strong vision.
We sent her a copy of the script as well as the book, which it turned out she'd already read and was
passionate about." Adds Gavron: "I read the draft and thought it showed lots of potential and came on
board at that stage. What really appealed to me was Nazneen's journey. The story of a woman finding
her place in the world, and finding a voice, so beautifully told, with such compassion, wit and emotional
depth."
Trying to condense a 500 page novel which focuses on the inner thoughts of its central character into a
screenplay, that still maintained the heart of Nazneen's voyage of discovery, was always going to be a
challenge, but Gavron and screenwriter Abi Morgan made some bold decisions. Says Gavron: "We tried
to be very faithful to the spirit of the book. But it was impossible to include everything. It's a very
complicated process because there's so much that you do want to include. But in the end, we chose to
compress the time frame of the novel and set it all in 2001 with some flashbacks and back story -- and
that unlocked for us the scriptwriting process. We went through many drafts before we made that
decision, and it was rather daunting. There's so much wonderful texture to the novel, but in terms of the
narrative, really it kicked off in 2001 when Nazneen met Karim and her life began to change."Nazneen's life is turned upside down at the tender age of seventeen,. Forced intoan arranged marriage to
an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London's East End. In
this new world, pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her existence -- and to
do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.
Told from birth that she must not fight her fate, Nazneen submits, devoting her life to raising her family
and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until the day that Karim, a hot-headed local man, bursts
into her life.
Against a background of escalating racial tension, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to
take control of her life. Set in multicultural Britain, Brick Lane is a truly contemporary story of love, cultural
difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit.
Re: Brick Lane, Trailer by Amiraalmed
*sigh*