Heat and Dust

Anne, a young journalist, sets out to uncover the story of her great-aunt Olivia, a woman whose life has long been associated with scandal. Travelling in India, she pieces together Olivia's past from letters and memories. In the 1920s, Olivia had gone there as the wife of Douglas, a British colonial official, and the couple settled among the British community. Olivia was drawn to the country and to its ruler, the Nawab, whose style of government blended British administration with Indian wealth and severity. Her involvement with him placed her at odds with those around her and had lasting consequences. As Anne follows this history, she begins to reconsider her own life.

James Ivory directed the film, the third in the run of features he made, after The Europeans and Quartet and before A Room with a View. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote the screenplay and Ismail Merchant produced, continuing the partnership behind those films. Julie Christie plays Anne, with Greta Scacchi as Olivia, Shashi Kapoor as the Nawab and Christopher Cazenove as Douglas. The film is a British production.

On TMDB it holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from 46 votes, placing it below the audience approval often given to the director's later period dramas. It sits within a series of films concerned with encounters between different cultures.