The Householder: (The Sword and the Flute / The Creation of Woman) (The Merchant Ivory Collection)

great film . good acting by the lead pair specially shashi kapoor . gives an insight to values and traditions in india . watch it .

The Ivory-Merchant-Jhabvala team established a particular style in their film productions. This film and HEAT AND DUST are even more special because they are based on novels written by Jhabvala herself.

Set in India, this is the study of a young man’s relationship with his new wife; a woman he doesn't even know and whom he supports working as a teacher while dealing with the politics of the school system. Meanwhile he has to deal with his wife’s temperament and finds himself living like a stranger in their home. Ivory uses beautiful images to reflect the couple’s present anxiety and their lament of a lost childhood with humour and humanity. Later in the story the young man crosses paths with a soul-searching and very annoying man from the United States who lives in a community of eccentrics. The American constantly makes philosophical proclamations and is obsessed with self-discovery but is incapable of listening to our protagonist’s dilemmas; the irony of friendships.The acting is sometimes weak but the actors’ inexperience and their obvious commitment and exuberance gives the film character and mood. An interesting first effort by Merchant/Ivory which reflects their love for the human spirit in all its awkward glory!

Prem (Shashi Kapoor), an immature young teacher recently married, is not happy with his even younger wife, Indu (Leela Naidu). She doesn't do things the way his mother does, is more outspoken than he would like, and neither of them have any idea of how to form a working relationship. In a fit of childishness, Prem telegraphs for his mother (Durga Khote) to come, and what seems to spell doom for the marriage, instead works an amazing change.Based on the novel Gharbar by the movie's screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the Householder is a gentle, beautiful movie, with natural acting and a fully immersible plot. This Merchant Ivory Production was the pair's first collaboration, and yet it shows their now famous style fully formed from the beginning. This character study is a charming drama well worth watching.

This old classic is a nostalgic tour de force for movie buffs. Having first seen it when it came out in 1962, I wanted to own the DVD. Shashi Kapoor appears vulnerable yet endearing youth. Leela Naidu's understated beauty in this black and white movie is something to behold. Merchant and Ivory were introduced to millions of movie goers by this movie to Ruth Prawar Jhabwala's fiction.Enjoyed it again after many decades.

This movie has a low-budget, homemade feel to it. I guess it was one of their very first films. It's in black and white and the sound quality is so poor that sometimes it's difficult to understand what the characters are saying. The Indian background music is often shrill and jarring, like fingernails on a blackboard. Also, the acting seemed pretty amateurish to me. The story is quite slow, too, and for me it dragged a bit. I would say this is only for the SERIOUS Merchant-Ivory scholar!

Given its age its ok but the sound quality was appalling thus spoiling an otherwise quaint film

A love story, the story of a love that grows after marriage, and the first collaboration of Ivory, Merchant and Jhabvala. Accompanied by two short films, Merchant's The Creation of Woman, a dance, and Ivory's The Sword and the Flute about Indian miniature painting.

I didn't recognise the cover of this dvd. It has French subtitles and the cover notes are all in French. I tried looking back at the description but there seems to be no information.