Story That Begins at the End, A / Arimpara

Directed by: Murali Nair

India / Japan / 2003 / 90 mins / 35 mm / Malayalam with English Subtitles

Official Selection, Cannes 2003 - Un Certain Regard, Director in Attendance

Krishnanunni is the descendant of a wealthy orthodox Nair family, whose fortune has now dwindled. But there is still enough to ensure a leisurely life for him, his wife Suma and their seven year old son Unni. Everything is going fine until one morning, while shaving, Suma discovers a black mole under Krishnanunni's lower lip. At first they think it is a sign of luck, but later Suma suggests that he should have an operation to remove it. Krishnanunni who shuns western medicine decides to undergo herbal treatment, but it does not seem to slow its growth. Starting off in Satyajit Ray territory with low-key sequences illustrating day-to-day life, the film gradually becomes more akin to one of Luis Bunuel's satires, before finally veering into the territory of horror as the wart develops a life of its own.