Dark Night of the Soul (1996)

• 71%
• 1996
• Drama
• Prasanna Vithanage
• Swarna Mallawarachchi
• Ravindra Randeniya
• Yashoda Wimaladharma

SUWISAL is a successful, middle-aged company director, but he has a melancholic personality and is very forgetful. His beautiful young fiancée finds herself having to remind him of daily appointments, special occasions and routine things. Suwisal is a reluctant husband-to-be. He has casual relationships with other women and appears to be troubled by something deep in his psyche- something he tries to forget in order to maintain emotional stability. This stability is suddenly upset when he is called to serve on a jury at a murder trial. The defendant is a young sex-worker accused of murdering a client. Suwisal recognizes her as PIYUM, the young servant from his aunt's house, whom he knew twenty five years ago. He had a sexual encounter with her and made her pregnant, but refuse to see her again and help her through the difficulties. Suwisal is not sure if Piyum recognizes him, She says nothing. He is advised to remain in the jury and he votes with the majority to find her guilty as charged. she is sentenced to ten years imprisonment. But we see that it is Suwisal who has been sentenced to lifetime of guilt, remorse and despair. He now feels he should share some responsibility for the life Piyum was forced to lead. He tries to lodge an appeal of her behalf but he is advised against this because of the adverse consequences if his past becomes public knowledge. Suwisal gets angry. Nobody seems to understand his need to rectify the wrongdoing of twenty five years ago. He is accused of acting like a child, and of only wanting to satisfy his conscience because he can never change what he did. But Suwisal persists. He visits Piyum in prison and offers her help. Did Piyum recognized him at the trail? Does she accept his help? Is Suwisal released from his lifetime of torment? We are given the answer in the last few frames of the film.