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Bookmark this pageCotton Mary (1999)
Director: Ismail Merchant, Madhur Jaffrey
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
We're back in India in the wake of the Raj, flitting from the bazaars of Kerala to the lush manse of an English family, the Macintoshes, whom we meet as they are inadvisedly adding to their number. The child is premature, the unhappy mother, Lily (Scacchi), won't lactate, and it takes the intervention of Jaffrey's nurse, Cotton Mary, to keep the newborn alive. A proud Anglo-Indian, Mary jumps at Lily's offer of domestic work; and, while her new employers are otherwise distracted, she inveigles her way into the heart of their household. The story might be meant to symbolise the problem of Anglo-Indian identity with the departure of their British patrons, but on the immediate level it's an impenetrable mess. The characters are frustratingly feeble, witless and ill-drawn, and their motivations range from the opaque to the unintelligible.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: Ismail Merchant, Madhur Jaffrey
Producer: Nayeem Hafizka, Richard Hawley
Cast: Greta Scacchi, Madhur Jaffrey, James Wilby, Sarah Badel, Joanna David, Sakina Jaffrey, Gemma Jones, Prayag Raaj full cast
Duration: 124 mins
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