The Big City
A newly employed Calcutta housewife becomes her family's financial anchor, forcing a proud husband and disapproving in-laws to confront changing gender roles.
Overview
A woman's success in the workplace challenges traditional family dynamics, leading to unexpected chaos.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- intimate
- observational
- melancholic
- quiet evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Satyajit Ray's intimate social drama as a perceptive, humane, and finely observed portrait of gender, work, and family change.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Arati's new job challenges her in-laws' assumptions about women's roles while becoming essential to the household.
The in-laws respond to Arati's employment through a sustained cold war of silence and disapproval.
The film grounds marital insecurity, unemployment, and family conflict in everyday early-1960s Calcutta life.
Arati's family tensions develop alongside her office friendships, professional risks, and interactions with her boss.
Films like The Big City, and why
A Separation
shared social realism, domestic conflict, and a woman's negotiation of work and family expectations
The Second Mother
shared intimate family drama, gendered social pressures, and understated realism
Wanda
shared working-class domestic tensions, feminist themes, and observational humanism
Movie Details
- Director
- Satyajit Ray
- Release Date
- 1963-09-27
- Runtime
- 136 min
- Rating
- 7.8 / 10 (110)
Cast
- Madhabi Mukherjee
- Anil Chatterjee
- Haren Chatterjee
- Haradhan Bandyopadhyay
- Vicky Redwood
- Jaya Bachchan
- Sefalika Devi
- Prasenjit Sarkar
- Shyamal Ghoshal
- Gitali Roy
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Big City about?
- A newly employed Calcutta housewife becomes her family's financial anchor, forcing a proud husband and disapproving in-laws to confront changing gender roles.
- What is The Big City like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Big City as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Big City violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Big City.
- What did critics think of The Big City?
- Critics broadly regard Satyajit Ray's intimate social drama as a perceptive, humane, and finely observed portrait of gender, work, and family change.
- Which films are like The Big City?
- Films with a similar feel include A Separation, The Second Mother, and Wanda.
- How long is The Big City?
- The Big City runs 136 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Big City?
- In United States, The Big City streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel.
