Quote:
"As art films, both Fire and Water spatialise time and present a very sophisticated handling of narrative organisation, with an orchestration of words, sounds and images which forces on the viewer the tension between inner reality and the social mask. They represent subversive elements capable of profoundly destabilising the existing patriarchal system of power/gender relations."
-- Jayita Sengupta

Source:
Sengupta, Jayita. "Gendered Subject(s) in Deepa Mehta's Fire and Water." In Films, Literature, and Culture: Deepa Mehta's Elements Trilogy, edited by Jasbir Jain. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2007. (p. 117)