Sri

Sri, the début film by film critic Marselli Sumarno, is deeply rooted in Javan culture. The film is set in a traditional house in today’s Surakarta (Central Java), in some ways comparable with a prominent aristocratic courtyard. The camera seems to adapt to the rhythm of life behind the walls. The heroine of the title Sri is a dancer in her mid-twenties who is married to the seventy-year-old Javan nobleman Hendro. He is sick and bed-ridden. Sri is conscious of the fact that she has much to be grateful to her husband for: thanks to him she has been able to develop from a village girl into a classic Javan dancer. She has a lot of success with her performances in the sultan’s palace. At the same time, she cares for her husband submissively. It is a much harder task for her to convince Yamadipati, the god of the dead, that Hendro should not die yet. He still has several important obligations in life: for instance he has to apologise to his ex-wife, whom he severely neglected, and he has to take her a family heirloom. Sri tries to move the god of death and to seduce him, in the end mainly because she wants to lead an independent life. Sumarno brings together several major names form the Indonesian dance world for his elegant film, including Prins-Claus-Award- winner Sardono W. Kusumo as Yamadipati, the god who is confronted with the modern age.