A MASTERCLASS ON FILMING DESIRE: KONKONA SEN SHARMA'S FILM IN LUST STORIES 2 IS ONE OF THE BEST PORTRAITS OF LUST

By Ahona

At first glance, Konkona Sen Sharma's piece in Lust Stories 2 is about the complexity of desire. A woman returns from work early one afternoon. She finds her maid on her bed with a man. It shocks her to her core. She runs out. At night she has a revelation. This pleases her, psycho-sexually. The film is already toying with certain existing stereotypes the embarrassment of unhinged desire, the elitist indignation at workers encroaching upon personal spaces, the perverted obsession with a sexually promiscuous "maid". The more you think about the film, the better it getslt takes the stereotypes to break them. Instead of being disgusted by the scene that unfolds in front of her, Isheeta (Tilottama Shome) is turned on by it. Her indignation at her home being used as Seema's (Amruta Subhash) private space turns into her voyeuristic fascination with it. And here, instead of a man obsessing with the female worker in his house (the more stereotypical power dynamic), two women discover their own pleasures in relation to each other's desire. But to me, the ingenuity of the film is in its understanding and portrayal of space. When Isheeta first witnesses the sex scene between Seema and Seema's husband, it shocks her so much that it drives her out of her own home. She hides behind the wall outside her home as Seema leaves, as though she was the one at fault. In one carefully composed frame the film establishes its focal point - the delicate hierarchy of power, visually represented through Isheeta, positioned higher and yet, hiding. This understanding of space is expanded further. In other scenes, the film shows you how Isheeta owns the house, and Seema knows it. Seema brings in the plumber, cleans it, and cares for it. She knows it so well that she can identify when a stool has been placed somewhere else. When the titular mirror in the film reflects both their desires for each other, it also reflects their complex ownership of spaces. 

The film comprises, if you were to break it down like that, mainly two kinds of frames. It is either a close up of the female face, where the film focuses on the psychological experience of desire reflected in the woman's expression. Or it is a frame that shows these two women in their spaces, establishing how they inhabit it. Seema's own home is crowded, with little to no privacy. The one moment of intimacy she shares with her husband there happens outside the house. Isheeta's space is larger and lonely, because she can afford this privacy. In fact, the film's thesis on the right to privacy can make for another article. But even that is tied to the usage of space. In a more theoretical, judgemental reading of the film, I could have just concluded that Isheeta's voyeuristic pleasure find an equal in Seema's exhibitionistic pleasure. But, Konkona Sen Sharma knows that pleasure cannot be categorised so neatly. So she allows the messiness of it to unfold in the space of the house. Because she asserts the messiness of the dynamic, the film becomes an even more evolved take on lust. It allows both women their humane, flawed self- expression. The film is a stunning exploration of the female gaze. And perhaps because the film understands and respects the experience of sexuality, it actively rejects the mindless objectification of the body for pleasure. Its intimate scenes, even with the way they surprise the viewer, never become objectifying towards the characters in the film. It instead shows how individualistic they are. Their pleasures and displeasures create two strikingly impactful characters in a delicate power play. The film has the courage to go beyond shame, beyond disgust, beyond the normative ways of experiencing pleasure, beyond the manicured bodies we have seen in intimate scenes of cinema. It uses the human body and its relationship to space to encourage you to reflect - just as the mirror does.