2025 FILM SERIES: The Epic David Lean

A Passage to India (1984, 164min)

Linda DeLibero, senior lecturer and special advocate for alumni and outreach, and former director of the JHU film and media studies program

A Passage to India marked Lean’s return to moviemaking after a 14-year hiatus, and as fate would have it, it was his last film. Embittered by the drubbing critics gave his 1970 production, Ryan’s Daughter, Lean retreated and turned down numerous projects over the years before the opportunity to adapt EM Forster’s 1924 novel presented itself. A deeply felt exploration of the racial and cultural divisions that arise from the conditions of British Colonialism, Forster’s book obviously appealed to Lean’s sensibilities and to his abiding fascination with India. The shoot itself was rough: after so many years away from directing, Lean was hesitant and insecure; there were conflicts with his stars, particularly the young Judy Davis; and some observers complained that Lean was taking too many liberties with Forster’s “sacred” text. It seemed another disaster was in the making. But miraculously, upon release Passage immediately proved an unmitigated critical and popular success, and today it’s considered one of his finest films. Passage combines all of Lean’s singular strengths, vividly painting the pomp and pompousness of the British Raj and the natural splendor of India on an epic scale, while capturing every intimate nuance of the story’s fraught interracial relations. Davis, a revelation as the neurotic and complicated Adela Quested, deepens the character of Forster’s original; and Dame Peggy Ashcroft, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work as the compassionate mystic, Mrs. Moore, radiates a humanity that casts its glow over the entire film.

The summer film series is created in partnership with The Renaissance Institute.

$10 fee for guests or $40 for six films (No fee for ASG/RI members, or ASG subscribers)