jdoyle30000 Review of The Peacock Spring

The Peacock Spring (1996 TV Movie)

Interesting film with a cop-out ending

[6/10 · 22 January 2022]

I found this movie to be interesting and well-acted. The characters were well-rounded and showed development over time (although the character of the younger sister Hal was a bit neglected). I don't know if it is realistic or not, but the exploration of relationships in post-colonial India is a good topic for film. I enjoyed the film up to the very end when a "convenient" miscarriage deflated the plot by solving a huge problem for Una and depriving the viewer of a chance to see how her relationship with her family might really have played out. What could have been a really complex exploration of race, sex, class, and colonialism lost a whole dimension that it should have had. I haven't read the book; I assume the film just follows the novel. It left me feeling like somebody just got tired of working it all out and decided to end the plot the easy way.