Immaculate Conception

1992

Johnny's comments:

Never even heard of Immaculate Conception until this week, so I decided to give it a go and it's basically a Merchant-Ivory movie but with them not involved. Filmed entirely in Pakistan, it's about an American woman Hannah (Melissa Leo) who lives in Pakistan with her World Wildlife Fund working English husband Alistair (James Wilby) but is bored and desperate for a child that they can't seem to conceive. With a photographer friend Samira (Shabana Azmi), Hannah meets some eunuchs who tempt her with the promise of conception which she brushes off but eventually comes around to the idea. After getting her very reluctant husband to join her for a weekend away with the eunuchs, she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy but after the birth, they shun the eunuchs who want to help them have a healthy baby and it starts a series of events which put both Hannah and Alistair as well as their baby in harm's way.

Not a bad movie but the warnings of dire consequences for the couple don't marry up with what happens in the end and the consequences seem rather mild for the family. Others receive a much worse fate, particularly the bloke that messes with a rare book of Quran. Also the movie seems a bit more salacious than the usual Merchant-Ivory movie with a bit of sex, and plenty of the movie involving the eunuchs, while the conception scene is very suggestive that all may not be what it seems. I've got to admit I'd haven't seen much of Melissa Leo before 21 Grams, not even Homicide: Life On The Streets, so it's seems a bit odd to see her in earlier stuff, well to me anyway.

Melissa Leo film clip (collages below)