Freida Pinto gets a thumbs up from critics for Trishna

Trishna had its world premiere on Friday during the Toronto International Film Festival – and the first five reviews are in! They’re all extremely positive, praising the cinematography and raw emotions of the main characters (Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed), but a bit skeptical about the fact that they didn’t have a script. Read a few quotes about Freida and the movie below, click on the links to read the full reviews

“…Winterbottom has also been extremely astute in his casting. Frieda Pinto has all the pouting beauty that Trishna requires as well as the awkwardness and vulnerability. Riz Ahmed is a revelation, showing bags of romantic leading man ability in a performance of immense charm and edge. He is such a sexy, appealing figure that he almost makes us too attached to Jay. When Jay turns increasingly controlling and cruel, it feels as much a betrayal of the audience as it does of Trishna’s wholehearted belief in him.”

Allan Hunter, Screen Daily

“Eclectic director Michael Winterbottom brought raw power to a Thomas Hardy adaptation once before, with Jude in 1996. In Trishna, he updates Tess of the d’Urbervilles to contemporary Rajasthan, India, delivering more emotionally muted yet arresting results, with Freida Pinto instilling fragile dignity into Hardy’s tragic heroine.”

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“Trishna is Winterbottom’s take on Tess of the d’Urbervilles, filmed previously by Roman Polanski in Tess, an epic, slow but hypnotic period movie. Winterbottom’s version is shorter, set very much in the present, and diverts from Hardy’s text in many ways, but is just as compelling.

Like Polanski’s Tess, Winterbottom’s heroine is rather passive, a woman who lets things happen to her, and for many, the gorgeous but woefully reactive Trishna will be frustratingly meek. Likewise, Ahmed’s Jay, a nice guy who transforms somewhere along the way into a boorish bully, will be a test of an audience’s sympathy.

But for those prepared to take the journey, the film is a seductive, allegorical study of male-female relationships that says more about what its characters are than who they are.”

Damon Wise, The Guardian

“There isn’t any doubt that Trishna will capture a lot of attention at the next Academy Awards. It has all the makings of an Oscar contender: an outstanding leading lady, great direction, an impressive adapted screenplay, excellent cinematography and colourful costume design.”

Nigel Hamid, Toronto Verve

"Starring an incandescent Freida Pinto, "Trishna" acknowledges but doesn't exactly embrace the Bollywood tradition, marrying Winterbottom's naturalistic style with terrific songs by Amit Trivedi. Exotic result should attract extensive festival and specialty play."

Peter Debruge,Variety