In her second film, Sharmila Tagore stars as Doya, the title character of Devi. Doya is a young woman in an aristocratic family in 19th-century Bengal whose comfortable existence is upended when her father-in-law suddenly becomes convinced that she is an incarnation of the goddess Kali. Ray's dreamily sensual and slyly satiric film about religious orthodoxy was originally banned from export. Tagore’s understated performance brilliantly brings out the levels of Doya’s character, as she alternates between acquiescence, boredom, terror and even a sly curiosity about the ways in which she can profit from her father-in-law’s irrational belief. – DP

The screening will be preceded by a special reception at 6pm upstairs in the lobby of the Carpenter Center.