[Woman of the Ganges] is a deliberate journey through a self-endowed world, in which cinema itself, as a means of expression, is alternately questioned, denied, and finally affirmed….

It is explanation itself which functions as the principal theme of Woman of the Ganges. The plot is ostensibly concerned with a group of people who have returned to a scene from their past. Entering into this void, they try to re-establish the relationships which had originally failed. What the film presents us with, however, is a series of "plot elements", as it attempts to recreate the past through the characters' present….

Duras builds images of painful simplicity, which resemble paintings set into motion—but not emotionalized—in the far regions of the frame. Characters, in trying to re-create or reevaluate the past, emerge as still-life objects….

For its characters, the space of Woman of the Ganges is a utopian...