Cotton Mary (1999)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Directors:

Ismail Merchant
Madhur Jaffrey (co-director)

Writer:

Alexandra Viets (written by)

Release Date:

17 December 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A British family is trapped between culture, tradition, and the colonial sins of the past.

Plot Keywords:

British | India | Female Nudity | Nanny | Indo Pak

Cast

Greta Scacchi	...	Lily MacIntosh
Madhur Jaffrey	...	Cotton Mary
James Wilby	...	John MacIntosh
Sarah Badel	...	Mrs Evans
Riju Bajaj	...	Mugs
Gerson Da Cunha	...	Doctor Correa
Joanna David	...	Mrs Smythe
Neena Gupta	...	Blossom (Mary's sister)
Sakina Jaffrey	...	Rosie
Gemma Jones	...	Mrs Freda Davids
Firdausi Jussawalla	...	Mr. Panamal
Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal	...	Matron
Nadira	...	Mattie
Prayag Raj	...	Abraham (as Prayag Raaj)
Captain Raju	...	Inspector Ramiji Raj

Also Known As:

Cotton Mary (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

France | UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Iceland:L | Ireland:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:T | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Fort Cochin, Kerala, India

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: As Theresa is walking along with the procession she passes an Indian boy in the crowd who waves at the camera.

Soundtrack:

Aar Paar

Death by Merchant-Ivory

Don't get me wrong, there are Merchant-Ivory films I've really loved, like "Room With A View" and "Remains of the Day." But M-I films either suck you in or they don't, and halfway through this one made me wish I had a 'relief video' handy, perhaps one with car chases and explosions.

For one thing, the title character, a thieving, scheming servant, was completely unlikable. There was no attempt to draw humor from the situation. For another, the character played by Greta Scacchi, an actress I love, was a hopeless dupe. Not only did she seem unaware of the very existence of baby bottles and wet nurses, but one would think that an upper class British woman in India would have a well-developed radar for servant politics and shenanigans.

Lastly, the film would have you believe that Cotton Mary could take a baby, ship it across the river to her sister's compound to nurse, ship it back - and still have time for her various plots? As I recall, the little buggers want to feed pretty often.

If you want to see an allegory on British colonialism in south Asia, watch "A Passage to India" or "The Man Who Would Be King," the latter having more action in any three minutes of its running time than "Cotton" had in its entire length.