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.
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VERY moving film. So much of it resonates - from the letters from home, the suitcase, the sewing machine ..the things that were part of our lives ..so moving and affecting...I LOVE this movie very much indeed. Made me cry and cry! All of us feel this - from Bengali's to Cypriots!! Its a universal themed movie!!
Come on everybody, im bengali n i have no problem with any of the intimate scenes in this film, cause at the end of the day stuff like this goes on behind closed doors in the Bengali culture anyway, so why try and protray it in any other way?!
These scene's are part of the journey of the character and what she goes through to find what is important to her! No offense to the wonderful Bengali community - just part of the human story and how her true love calls her back!
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i will fukk you up bitchhh