Photography comprises the bright,
tensile thread in the sweep of The Luminist,
drawing tight a narrative that shifts between
the prejudices and passions of Victorian
England and those of colonial Ceylon. It binds
the destinies of Catherine Colebrook, the
proper wife of a fading diplomat, who rebels
against every convention to chase the
romance of science through her lens, and
Eligius, an Indian teenager thrust into servitude
after his father is killed demanding
native rights.
The Luminist is a weave of legend and history,
science and art, politics and domesticity
that are symphonic themes in the main
title, the story of an enduring and forbidden
friendship. Catherine and Eligius must
each struggle with internal forces that inspire
them and societal pressures that command
them. Rocklin's is a bold landscape, against
which an intimate drama is poignantly played
out. Just in this way, our minds recall in
every detail the photo snapped at the moment
of pain, while all the lovely scenes seem to
run together.