There is a very interesting exploration of what the lack of space, the access to space, does to a family and a society in the film Agra, from director Kanu Behl (who also shares writing credit with Atika Chohan). However, it gets bogged down at times by its competing sexual exploration of Guru (played by Mohit Agarwal) which is colored with mental health issues, most of which I would argue do the film, the character, and the discussion of mental health a disservice because they are undeveloped and frankly just mostly seem to be done for shock value.
The film was at its best when it focused on the household itself and the frustrations that came with them all living in the lack of space of the house as it currently stood. How the family all lived together, despite Daddy Ji (played by Rahul Roy) having moved on with a new woman over a decade ago, because there is nowhere else for Guru and his mother to go, etc. How they all fight and argue, but when something comes along, they are able to rally together as a family and work in tandem to achieve a collective goal.
The film begins with some images that will be unpleasant for people with photosensitivity before shifting into a sexual fantasy of Guru’s that quickly becomes a nightmare… complete with human-sized squirrel sex. If this is the kind of stuff that his sexual frustration kept manifesting as, unrealistic fantasies I may have gotten how the film was described on its Directors’ Fortnight page as a “monstrous and funny film” but other than that opening, I didn’t find there to be much to laugh at or with. It wasn’t even a tragic comedy.
There was an exceptional use of sound for this one scene where Guru has just been told something that could unravel him, and everything he fought to get, and the drone for the entire scene as he seeks his answers (and fulfills his sexual desires, because again that is his coupled story path). It added a great extra layer of tension, and threat to the scene, especially as we’ve previously seen him be sexually violent.
And his sexual violence takes me back to the problem with that storyline and the coupling of it with mental health. He sexually assaults his cousin. They never disclose the neurodivergence he has, because I suspect, they didn’t actually want to research any, because they just wanted to say he had one for plot reasons. Because it is something that is only touched upon when it’s convenient to the story. And so that they could ignore any actual repercussions, other than showing that after the “incident” aka the assault, he now takes meds. First, he already had one self-destructive, and one violence-to-others incident so he should’ve probably already been taken to a doctor to seek help. However, there are plenty of places where the cost of medical help is prohibitive (the US where I currently am for example), and mental health often gets put on the back burner, so that is a plot point I can get behind. However, after the assault, they do take him to a doctor, who rightly calls Guru out for attempted rape, but after he gives Guru the pills that is it. No one is checking in, not in his family, not in the doctors, to make sure they are working. I get that it’s a movie, and you don’t show the boring parts, but in a family that is on top of each other daily, and is always looking for a one-up, checking in on his mental health feels like something easy to work in, both dramatically and comedically.
Agra had its World Premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
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