The movie 'Is love enough, Sir?' is one that pulls at your heartstrings. It tells the story of a widow from a village who comes to the city to work as a housemaid. Her employer's wedding has just been called off and the two lonely souls have to share the same house.
The maid is initially invisible around her employer, she goes about her tasks single-mindedly. Their exchanges are marked by politeness, each respecting the other's space. She addresses him as 'Sir', both as a sign of respect and submission. Silence fills the remaining space between them.
One day, seeing that her employer is not being able to overcome the grief of his broken marriage, she feels compelled to say something. While serving him dinner, she speaks up and tells him that in her village, she was told that her life is over because her husband died 4 months after her wedding. After that, she left her village and came to the city and is making a living, proving that life does not end with a loss. She is thus able to get him to see things differently. The dynamics of their relationship slowly changes. Her simplicity and devotion win him over. He starts paying attention to things that interest her, truly seeing her as a human being. He asks her about her family and eventually buys her a sewing machine because she confided in him that she always wanted to become a fashion designer.
When the guy's friend asks him about her, he tries to explain his feelings by saying, "It's a kind of trust. She's the only one who really understands me." This comes as a fresh reminder that true love is indeed about trust, caring, and understanding, that everything else that we madly pursue like money, status, and beauty are only synthetic add-ons.
As she in turn falls for him, we suddenly become aware of the class differences between them. At a party at his parents' place, she is shown serving the guests and none of them even care to look at her and acknowledge her presence as they pick from the plate she is holding. She is totally ignored if she does not even exist. This makes us acutely aware of the way the upper-class views those they consider lower than themselves. When the party is over, her employer comes looking for her and is troubled to see her sitting on the floor in the kitchen and eating with the other workers. He later asks her if she doesn't feel bad serving everyone, then sitting on the floor and eating, and she replies, 'This is what I have always done,' making him realize that it is only now that he is noticing what was there all along. The movie makes us aware of the subtle ways in which the lower class is disrespected and ill-treated in a kind of soft apartheid that is invisible to those in a position of privilege. There is a scene where she asks her employer for permission to go back to her village for her sister's wedding. The latter, as a kind gesture, puts some money in an envelope and hands it over to her as a gift. She hesitates to accept it because she feels it would diminish her worth in his eyes. She has started to like him and wants him to see him as equal. We realize that the relationship between a servant and her master is not about love.
The two main characters are simply superb in their understated performances. We especially feel for the heroine who preserves her dignity by going about her work meticulously, to the point that it becomes her zone of comfort. Once she steps outside it and starts to entertain a dream, she becomes vulnerable in a terribly cruel world. In a scene where he asks her, 'So, you believe in God?', she simply replies: 'I have to.' This leaves us with a strong feeling of guilt for the things we take for granted. We get the feeling that for the downtrodden, even love is a luxury that she cannot afford. As the actress rightly asks her friend in a scene, "Are we not entitled to a dream just because we are poor?"
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So, hope more seasons roll out for this. ( Message from the Editor, love)
About the Contributing Editor:
Author Nanda Pavaday is Mauritius based writer and columnist. He writes in French and English. His first book "Tales of Simpler Times" is a story about nostalgia, times gone by ,and the good old vibes of childhood, love, thought, humour. His words are a joy. He contributes to RAD TIMES around cinema, culture and writing.
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