Staged as a love letter by a young female student, Payal Kapadia’s debut is a subtle critique of the Indian society marked by the inequality of the caste system, racial prejudice, and the nationalist agenda of those in power. Carefully composed of exceptionally candid archival images, employed at the border between document and fiction, the movie follows, among other things, the protests and the hunger strike initiated in 2015 by a group of students in response to the appointment of a Hindu nationalist at the helm of their university. The students object to the government’s attack on public education, as well as against the discrimination and the persecution of the Muslim minority and the so-called inferior caste of the Dalits. While the suave voice of the enamoured woman speaks to her missing lover from off-screen, we witness violent clashes between the police and the protesters which are denounced by the images captured by the security cameras. The demonstrations bear a striking resemblance to those of May 1968, when several universities in Europe protested against governments and the Vietnam War. Constantly operating on the frontier between the personal and the political, between poetry and reality, this cinematic essay exudes an almost oneiric charm and nostalgia, as the love story cannot contain itself anymore and breaks out into the social struggles of the moment, which swallow up individual aspirations and freedoms. (Monica Stan)