Cotton Mary

REVIEW
In this Merchant/Ivory production, the proficient technical qualities usually associated with this great filmmaking team are ill-served by a rambling story and static direction. Set in 1947 in post-colonial India, the story traces the disabling effect that an unstable Indian nurse, Cotton Mary (Jaffrey), has on a British household after she insinuates herself into their home. Scacchi has little to do other than gardening and serving tea as the wife who slowly loses control of her household to an increasingly mad Mary. Less a poignant statement on British imperialism, Cotton Mary can't escape its melodramatic conventions even though the story seems on the verge of having something interesting to say.