Word: olivia
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Both Anne and Olivia are very much products of their own time, and their different lifestyles and beliefs contrast sharply with Indian society, which seems hardly to change in 49 years. Although Indians wear Western clothing in 1982, their beliefs and social structure seem as static as the unbearable heat and dust which return with a violent brutality each year. Olivia and Anne, or the other hand, couldn't be more different physically and socially. Both must adhere to the mores of Indian and British societies which apply in their time, although they seem to share a restless vitality which...
JULIE CHRISTIE plays the modern Anne, who travels to India to retrace her great aunt's experiences in India. For Anne, Olivia is more than just a romantic figure; she also represents the key to Anne's own willingness to confront her feelings about living in the chaotic modern environment. Christie sculpts Anne into more than just the quintessential female of the 80's, striving for independence after an unhappy affair with a married man. Anne radiates intelligence; her ability to live in the present ultimately depends on her understanding of the past...
...quest for self-knowledge. Anne visits all the places where Olivia lived, trying to reconstruct Olivia's life. Although confused, Anne is essentially straightforward; we understand her much more easily than the mysterious Olivia. Played by the beautiful Greta Scacchi, Olivia is torn between her love for and obligations to her English husband and an uncontrollable fascination with an Indian prince. Olivia's desire for the prince (Shaski Kapoor) enables her to ignore his devilish and corrupt ways, and see only his charm...
Scacchi's Olivia dominates Heat and Dust, since her experience is much more of a departure from the norm than Anne's simple quest for self-knowledge. Caught between the very proper English society which has colonized India and the ritualistic male-dominated Indian culture, Olivia falls victim to her own emotions, unable to sit at home waiting for her husband Douglas to return at night. Olivia's passions overpower her highly disciplined self-control, and she consequently dissipates after leaving her husband, living first as the prince's mistress and eventually alone...
...drawn towards Olivia, whose subtle beauty and romantic refinement pervades the film even during the modern-day scenes. But Olivia's power comes from her mysteriousness, her eventual desire to live alone, and Scacchi never lets us enter too far into Olivia's mind. The actress captures Olivia's repressed sexuality and carefully repressed feelings: her Olivia represents all women caught between Victorian prudishness and modern openness and free love...