Director: Michael Lander.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Ellen Page, Bill Pullman, Josh Lucas, Keith Carradine.
Certificate: 12.
Running Time: 87 Mins.
Extras: Welcome To Peacock featurette.
PEACOCK was originally filmed at the tail end of 2009 and had a limited US release in 2010, but as happens with so many films, found itself trapped on the UK studio shelves until now. Having viewed the film it is easy to see why it took a while to see the light of day. The film isn’t bad, it’s just that the plot is so odd that it’s hard to pinpoint its target audience.
Set in the fictional town of Peacock, Nebraska, Murphy plays John and Emma, two personalities sharing one body. Fret not spoiler-avoiders, this isn’t giving away too much information as the audience is let into this secret during the opening moments. Confined to the house, hidden away from all other people, Emma ‘drives’ the body in the early hours of morning, doing all the traditional ‘women’s’ tasks such as cleaning the house and preparing a full days worth of food. Once all her chores are completed she goes upstairs and later comes back down with John in control. John is a quiet, reserved, bank teller who lost his overly demanding, and abusive mother a year before. Both sides of his psyche exist separate to one another and are leading a peaceful co-existence until a train derails in their backyard and the townsfolk stumble across Emma.
Susan Sarandon’s character, Fanny Crill, the wife of a local politician, takes an immediate shine to Emma and sets about introducing her to society. This leads to a power struggle within the one body as Emma tries to hold on for longer and longer each day. The introduction of Page’s Maggie, a girl from John’s dark past, escalates things further as both John and Emma are drawn to her, feeling compelled to help the down-on-her-luck single mother.
Although very similar in appearance each character is different, with Cillian Murphy managing to straddle both personas well. Emma is softly spoken, calm and full of grace whereas John is a shy, short-tempered school-boy trapped in a man’s body. Of course you will wonder why none of the townsfolk notice just how similar the couple are in appearance, or the fact that they are never seen together, however, thanks to Murphy’s excellent portrayal it is not a distracting issue.
PEACOCK is more than a little peculiar, but an extremely interesting take on Dissociative Identity Disorder, which will get you thinking. Well worth a watch if you’re in the mood for something different.
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PEACOCK is available to download in the UK from 6th January, and to buy from 20th January.
