The Waiting City is the first Australian feature to be shot entirely in India, allowing the film to examines the couple’s marriage in a foreign setting. By incorporating the mythical/spiritual elements of the film’s setting with the intensely intimate drama of the relationship this film captures the highs and lows of the couple’s journey with delicate honesty and emotional openness.
From the very outset of the film, when hard-working, tightly-wound lawyer Fiona and laid-back, muso Ben arrive in Kolkata Airport, you know that there is trouble in paradise. Organised Fiona takes it on herself to do everything and go-with-the-flow Ben abdicates responsibility to her, both are resentful of the roles they have drawn. They are picked up from the airport by affable hotel employee, Krishna (Samrat Chakrabarati, She Hates Me) who becomes the couple’s part-time tour guide. When their adoption plans don’t run smoothly the cracks in Fiona and Ben’s marriage begin to appear, aided by the appearance of beautiful, hippy musician Scarlett (Isabel Lucas, Daybreakers) and Fiona’s work commitments back in Australia.
Creating a wondrous sense of place, it is clichéd to say but, The Waiting City really does make a character of Kolkata. Viewed through the eyes of a tourist the city’s vibrant colours, sites and religious processions draw you into the film and help you to fall in love with India. The film does come close at time to over-romanticising the country, presenting an idealised spiritual culture, but Sydneysider writer/director Claire McCarthy (Cross Life) maintains the reins on the film so that the mysticism compliments the drama of the script.
The success of the film’s story and location is in no small part down to McCarthy’s familiarity with India and its orphanages. McCarthy documented her time working at Mother Teresa Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata with her younger sister Helena, in her 2008 film project, Sisters. It is from this time you image she met the templates for the characters in her film, like the serene Sister Tessila (Tilotamma Shome, Monsoon Wedding).
McCarthy and her team have taken the hot topic of inter-country adoption, which see the movement of children from developing to developed countries and have eased out the issues without heavy-handedness. The character of Krishna is used to express concern over this issue, as well as to widen the debate around notions of motherhood. This is a film that has a huge amount of compassion for its characters and even though it probes the couple’s relationship to find its cracks, it is also concerned with how these are mended. Mitchell and Edgerton bring such vulnerability to their characters, giving them a real depth that makes you completely invested in their emotional journey.
This is a film that takes its protagonists on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, mixing love, frustration, pain and joy. With its superb scripting, beautiful visuals and excellent performances, The Waiting City is one glorious ride I would be more than happy to take again.
