(Rated R, 125 mins.) Opens March 24th
Limited release: As the BBC correspondent stationed in South India on a special assignment, John Macintosh (James Wilby) is absent when the story opens with the premature birth of a “special” child to his wife, Lily (Greta Scacchi) in an old British army hospital. Lily is unable to breast feed her child, and despite the efforts by the hospital nurses, including Cotton Mary (Madhur Jaffrey), the baby is close to death when Mary rushes the child to her crippled Blossom, a wet nurse in a nearby Alms house. Mary’s success in arranging the feeding of the baby, makes her indispensable to Lily, who offers her a permanent position in her home as an “Ayah” (nanny). The dynamics of the story come into play as Mary moves into the household assuming more responsibility for Lily, who has little interest in motherhood. A dramatic conclusion exposes each of the main characters’ often conflicting English and Indian identities. Scacchi gives new meaning to the words “comback role” in her best performance to date.
