In the first sequence of the psychological thriller Peacock, a young woman meticulously prepares a breakfast and, carefully noting the time, sets it on her kitchen table. As each movement is made with purposeful intent, she sets her hands, shoes, furniture in its place. She then walks up to her bedroom, sits at her vanity, removes her make up, hair and dress to reveal John Skillpa, played by Cillian Murphy. Nearly unrecognizable at the start, the actor's transformation is surprising. Following this, he is dressed in a suit, eating the breakfast prepared for him, then walking out the door. Stopping to pull a small treasure box out from under the porch step, he nervously looks over his shoulder at the bedroom window where we saw him dress earlier. Who could he be looking out for? He was clearly alone in his house.
John Skillpa, is a young bank clerk who, when no one's watching, dresses as Emma to recreate the daily routines of his deceased mother. But in the wake of a strange train accident which leaves the wreckage in his backyard, the politically driven townspeople draw attention to John and the supposititious Emma, whom the townspeople believe to be his new wife. While John is motivated by his need for privacy, Emma is driven by the need to feel socially connected to give truth to her existence. Neither personality is aware of what the other encounters in the course of his, or her, day. Eventually the two personalities clash, taking this emotionally disturbing story to a deeper, darker level.
Although I'm a big fan of Cillian Murphy and I've always known him to be very talented, I marveled at his performance as John / Emma. I cannot imagine that he wouldn't be recognized for the brilliant job he did in this film. As Emma, he is comfortably feminine and pretty. Emma's character is shy at first, but once aroused by the positive attention she receives from others, she is open and vibrant. John, on the other hand, is extremely tense. When his boss approaches him about a photo-op of the train wreck in his yard, the muscles in his neck protrude as his face revolts against a friendly gesture. Even more striking is the deep crease on the side of Murphy's face which remains throughout his performance as John, then disappears when he becomes Emma.
Despite the all star cast, including Susan Sarandon, Keith Carridine, Bill Pullman, Ellen Page and Josh Lucas, this film received almost no attention from media and went straight to DVD this month. This is a definite must see in my book. Its unfortunate that billions of dollars are being spent on ticket sales for films like Transformers and the Twilight series, two of the top grossing films of 2009, and films like Peacock cant even be found in a drive-up DVD rental box. Thank god for Netflix!
