Cotton Mary [videorecording] / Universal Pictures presents a Merchant Ivory production ; a film by Ismail Merchant ; directed by Ismail Merchant ; written by Alexandra Viets ; produced by Nayeem Hafizka, Richard Hawley.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1999. Special features: theatrical trailer. Greta Scacchi, Madhur Jaffrey, James Wilby, Neena Gupta, Sarah Badel, Joanna David, Sakina Jaffrey, Gemma Jones, Nadira, Prayag Raaj, Surekha Sikri, Laura Lumley.
Summary:
1954, the Malabar Coast. British and Anglo-Indian identities blur when an English-woman with a neglectful husband births a sickly baby. Cotton Mary, a hospital aide and moralizing Anglophile who claims her father was a British officer, takes over the infant's care and, without a word to the mother, takes the baby daily to her sister to nurse. Mary moves into the English household, taking over more and more duties as she plays on the mother's fatigue and lack of spousal counsel: in effect, Mary colonizes the English household while she pilfers its stores and tells tall tales to her own family. For how long can Mary sustain her rule before the Englishwoman stands on her own feet?
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