Monica Ali’s Man Booker Prize 2003 shortlisted novel, Brick Lane, is adapted here for the screen to wonderful effect. The film moves away from the narrative structure of the book. It focuses on an eventful year in the life of Nazneen (Chatterjee) who came to London for an arranged marriage at 17. Now in her mid-thirties Nazneen’s horizons widen in unexpected ways. Controversial at the time, Muslim protests prevented the film from being shot in Brick Lane or screened at a Royal Premiere.

“Brick Lane is about characters who have depth and reality, who change and learn, who have genuine feelings. And it keeps on surprising us, right to the end.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

“Ali’s novel might have been necessarily stripped back to its essentials, but the vibrant collage of sights and sounds satisfies on both aesthetic and thematic levels. Screenwriter Abi Morgan sums up that the film covers 20 years of marriage, and two kinds of love – young, passionate love that takes your breath away and the love that is like a grain of sand, that rubs and rubs until it produces a pearl.” Mark Kermode, The Observer.

“Nations with relatively open borders such as the United States and the United Kingdom are melting pots more than ever, but cultural differences such as those highlighted in this film remind us that a change in geography, while potentially providing greater opportunities, can also result in a sense of alienation. The characters in Brick Lane must define themselves and determine where home is before they can move forward, and that dramatic conflict lies at the heart of this motion picture.” James Berardinelli, Reelviews