A melodrama dressed up just enough to hold interest, in the retelling of an undeniably important story.
Provoked (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:10
Rotten:24
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Provoked's story is worth telling, but the hammy dialogue and heavy-handed direction doesn't give it the refined treatment it deserves.
Theatrical Release:May 11, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: "Provoked" is the true story of a battered wife who fought back, first against her husband and then against the system. Full of optimism and affection, newlywed Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya... "Provoked" is the true story of a battered wife who fought back, first against her husband and then against the system. Full of optimism and affection, newlywed Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya Rai) arrives at the doorstep of her new home and life with husband Deepak (Naveen Andrews). She would continue her law studies as her family had promised and the couple would start a family. The future offered only pain.The drunken Deepak beats her for the first time and shows remorse. He beats her again. It gets easier. After 10 years of violence, a dazed Kiranjit can take no more. She resorts to a desperate act that kills Deepak. She is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Incarceration tests the outwardly meek Kiranjit’s toughness at every turn, but the mother of two has suffered worse at home. She develops an ally in the mischievous Ronnie (Miranda Richardson), who also doled out the ultimate retribution to her abusive spouse. While Kiranjit acclimates to life behind bars, Radha (Nandita Das), an activist with the Southall Black Sisters, glimpses a tabloid headline about her case and springs into action. A barrister (Rebecca Pidgeon) with limited resources cannot make any headway, igniting greater determination in Radha, who rallies public opinion. Ronnie is denied parole but she has a secret weapon on the outside to help Kiranjit: Ronnie’s estranged brother-in-law Lord Foster (Robbie Coltrane), an influential legal eagle. Kiranjit’s appeal gains momentum when Radha persuades a cop to change his knowingly false testimony that Kiranjit was in her right mind the night of the killing. Arguing passionately before the high court, Lord Foster moves the judge to change the fate of many battered women forever. --© Official site [More]
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Rebecca Pidgeon
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Robbie Coltrane, Nicholas Irons, Nandita Das
Director: Jag Mundhra
Director: Jag Mundhra
Screenwriter: Jag Mundhra
Producer: Sunanda Murali Mahohar
Composer: A.R. Rahman
Studio: Eros Entertainment
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Reviews for Provoked
What should have turned out as a terrific movie about the crime of spousal abuse has instead received the equivalent of a ham-handed molestation by director Mundhra.
By offsetting Women in Cages-style throw-downs with Malcolm X-like uplift, it is simultaneously strange and familiar, inspiring and annoying.
The real-life heroes in this story deserve better than a formulaic, poorly shot melodrama.
The script is melodramatic, and Rai's lead performance is thin stuff.
[Director] Mundhra can't control the expansiveness of the melodrama or focus on the terseness of realism. Every character in Provoked, from victims to tyrants, Indian to English, loud to quiet, ends up as a grossly exaggerated comic creation.
The true-crime drama Provoked has everything to offer except a cinematic point of view and a knack for depicting human beings under duress. Those are major drawbacks.
Unfortunately, Provoked possesses the tinny production values and schmaltzy music of a prime-time special, despite its ensemble of terrific actors.
Account of a legal campaign launched by women to expose the brutality of domestic violence and male chauvinism.
Director Jag Mundhra doesn't do enough to clarify that killing, however horrible the man, really isn't okay, even for beautiful women.
In keeping its inflammatory subject matter at arm’s length, Provoked does exactly the same to its audience.
Holy Burning Bed! If Britain had its own equivalent of the Lifetime channel, "Provoked" would be tailor made for it.
PROVOKED: A TRUE STORY sets out to tell an important story in the history of the British judicial system. Unfortunately, the project was undertaken by filmmakers who seemingly didn't know how to handle the implications of the story they wanted to tell.
Director Jag Mundhra expends so much energy and screen time to sway us to take Kiranjit's side -- really, we're on her side, we're on her side -- that he doesn't have much left over for anything else.
A clueless [director] Mundhra tackles the subject with a heavy hand and a contrived script. The result is a daytime soap mixed with a second-rate women-behind-bars flick.
For all the gushy feelings, the plight of women like Kiranjit, bound not only by domineering, often physically abusive husbands but by racism and oppressive cultural traditions as well, is poignantly portrayed.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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