Louis Malle called his gorgeous and groundbreaking Phantom India the most personal film of his career. And this extraordinary journey to India, originally shown as a miniseries on European television, is infused with his sense of discovery, as well as occasional outrage, intrigue, and joy.
1 season · 7 episodes
Reflections in a Lens
Jul 25, 196955 min
How can you capture in the lens of a film camera the essence of a country so diverse, so variegated, and so paradoxical as India?
A Barbarian in Madras
Aug 1, 196955 min
Southern India pretends to know nothing about the North. Its language is different, its very nature too. In Madras Louis Malle discovers a striking example of that world of opposites to be found in traditional India: thousands cramming the
Holy India
Aug 8, 196955 min
Louis Malle finds a devotion to a spiritual life that transcends the poverty of the material one and discovers that in a country as crowded as India, religion is the one way for the individual to be alone.
Shadow Without Substance
Aug 15, 196955 min
Drifting at random through the numberless villages of the South, Louis Malle finds himself in a timeless, fantastic, and to a western eye, almost surrealist world. Kerala is like a dream, with its exotic lagoons, game reserves and palm-frin
Invisible Frontiers
Aug 22, 196955 min
Although officially abolished, the caste system has not ceased to exert a strong influence on Indian social life. It is not a problem of colour, race nor even of class. It is far subtler and harder to pin down, as Louis Malle discovers as s
Cults, Creeds and Clans
Aug 29, 196955 min
Turning aside from the traditional India of the Hindus, Louis Malle pans his camera on to the India of forgotten tribes and tiny sects. He discovers two versions of Utopia: one, the Ashram at Pondicherry whose disciples claim through yoga t
