A modest reduction of Monica Ali’s best selling, and critic polarising, novel, Sarah Gavron’s directorial effort proves to be almost as effective. The film opts for a far more subdued, personal exploration, one of claustrophobia and micro-dimensions, beautifully filmed and portrayed, “Brick Lane” manages to be both textured and stunning yet loses the book’s distinctive spirit and overall complexity.

Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) and her sister, Hasina (Zafreen), live simple, rural lives in Bangladesh. Poverty stricken, without knowing a world any different, the young girls play contentedly as gorgeous and ironic images of their village fill the screen with romance overshadowing reality. They share a bond only sisters can, one that is able to triumph over hardship and adversity. When their mother, unable to cope with her marriage and poverty stricken lifestyle, commits suicide, Nazneen’s world remains forever altered.

A short while after the tragedy strikes, Nazneen is sent to East End, London to marry an educated man by the name of Chanu (Satish Kaushik). Once there, she is under the expectations of her new husband and her family back home to create a family filled with Muslim values and rules, after all, who better to do it than a simple girl from the village.

The initial part of Nazneen’s transformation into domestication goes by so fast that catching up with her after she settles into her new home is somewhat a difficulty. When she first arrives, her husband is an egotistical individual who prides himself on having an education, but his pride soon gets the better of him and he loses his job. His arrogance hinders him from acquiring another job, and his patriarchal act soon comes to an end. Everyone else can see this except him.

It is at this point we see Nazneen settle down. She has two daughters, one in her temperamental teen stage; both daughters could not be any different from their mother. They adorn themselves in modern trends and give little attention to their cultural inheritance. With Chanu being unable to provide for the family financially, Nazneen sees a light at the end of the tutnnel, albeit a tiny one. She purchases a sewing machine and begins sewing clothes for small change. She finally becomes a person of value, even if she is the only one who sees how resourceful she has become. Having never had a job before, she now is able to become a part of the community and her self-assurance rises. Her power-struggles with her now useless husband are mostly internal, and her rebellion against all she has ever known is not quite fully explained. She wants to go home and so does her husband, but her daughters are filled with anger and disdain.

Nazneen begins an adulterous affair with Karim (Christopher Simpson), whose uncle runs the textile factory for which Nazneen works. He delivers items of clothing to her apartment on Brick Lane, and becomes something of a political influence on Nazneen when the 9/11 attacks occur. This creates tension in the London Muslim community, and even more reason to leave. However, Karim wants her to stay in London, after she divorces her husband.

Faced with a choice, or a series of choices, Nazneen has to pick a side. She has to deicide whether to make a decision that would benefit her daughters and herself or her husband, she has to take the political opposition into account and she has to consider her religious roots. None of these decisions prove easy for her, she has always been subservient and dutiful, and her only real ally in the film is her sister, with whom she corresponds through letters, but an ominous undercurrent ripples between the lines of those letters, where nothing can be expected to be factual.

Satish Kaushik’s “Chanu” steals the limelight, his performance displays a deep range and complex understanding of the tumultuous nature of insecurity, and keeps his character alive and vividly dynamic. Channistha Chatterjee gives a multi-faceted portrayal of the film’s lead character, very much internalized and introverted, yet compassionate enough to carry the film. In a few scenes, she comes across as slightly flat and one-dimensional, but in others, she is so intensely at war with herself and the taut, unsympathetic world she finds herself in, it is hard to look away. Without any major power performances, the drama of the novel is restrained which results in a lack of cohesive chemistry.

Gavron took a gamble when she chose to focus on a more intimate and personal story, leaving out many sections of the book, along the lines of history and key events, but the film works in its own right. The film is far more conventional than the book, and had Gavron stuck to the extensive insight the book offered, a more satisfactory film might have resulted. Brick Lane is honest and touching, but errs by steering clear of being bold or daring.

By far the films biggest success is its visual and sonic style, which lingers on the border of realism and romanticism, ironically highlighting the world Nazneen came from, and carrying tones and colours of her past into her new life through unexpected occurrences and objects, taking her back to her past, the only time she was more than content. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan makes use of an endless palette of vibrant insignias and colours, and the result is strikingly textural, perfectly balanced by the score by Jocelyn Pook, making extensive use of Indian-infused melodies.

Plausible optimism and genuine human dilemmas make the film a wonder to behold, but never becomes focused enough for the viewer to connect with the characters on a deeper, emotional level. A resonant effort of high quality and distinguishing beauty indeed, “Brick Lane” falters one to many times to be considered great.

Fatac Rating: ***½

Brick Lane. Directed by Sarah Gavron. Written by Abi Morgan and Laura Jones, based on the novel by Monica Ali. Cinematography by Robbie Ryan. Music by Jocelyn Pook. Starring: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Chaushik and Christopher Simpson. Running Time: 100 minutes. Age Restriction: PG-13. Year: 2008. Rating out of five stars.