Night nanny proves a little unsettling
Diablo Cody is able to hold an audience’s interest by creating a situation and peopling it with vivid and appealing characters.
“Tully” is about the experience of motherhood, not only in terms of its demands and difficulties and the exhaustion that comes of caring for an infant, but of the psychological landscape, as well. It’s about how a mother feels about herself, about her identity and about her relationship with that place inside that has nothing to do with motherhood, but with her own personal aspiration.
The film is a collaboration between writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, and bears a family resemblance to their two other films, “Juno” (also about pregnancy) and “Young Adult.” Like “Young Adult,” it stars Charlize Theron and deals with the clash between the dreams of youth and the realities of adulthood. But unlike either of the previous collaborations, “Tully” doesn’t expand as it goes along. It feels insulated and hermetically sealed, and it seems to get smaller.
Part of this is a matter of atmosphere, a consequence of the situation itself, and to that extent, it’s a good thing. The movie opens with Marlo (Theron) pregnant with her third child. She soon gives birth, and then life becomes very circumscribed. The baby is always crying, and so she is up at all hours breastfeeding. Three in the morning, four in the morning — there is no part of the day devoted to sleep. Meanwhile, there are still two other kids and meals to prepare and a husband who breezes in and out, either to or from the job.
Reitman, Cody and Theron all work to convey that middle-of-the-night feeling, the broken stillness and the drudgery, and the vague sense of unreality that comes at that hour. These are scenes that were almost certainly filmed during a normal work day, but there’s no thinking about that while watching them. Theron, who gained almost 50 pounds for the role, looks as though she could put her head down on the kitchen table and sleep for hours.
The movie’s title refers to the young woman who enters Marlo’s life. Marlo and her husband may be middle class, but apparently her brother (Mark Duplass) is enormously rich, and he offers to pay for Marlo to have a “night nanny.” For those unfamiliar with the concept, a night nanny is a person who comes to your house, spends the night, and if the baby starts crying, you can stay in bed. The night nanny does her eight-hour shift while you sleep.
Mackenzie Davis, in a nicely pitched performance, gives Tully an aura of benevolent mystery. She’s not just interested in taking care of the child, but of Marlo, too, and she seems to be able to anticipate her needs and desires. At the same time, there is something slightly unsettling about her — not in a Rebecca De Mornay (“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”), sort of way, nor in any other way that might be sinister. She just seems unknowable, somehow.
About midway through the movie, you might look up and realize that Cody’s script is holding your attention, even though there is nothing particular at stake, no issue that needs to be resolved, no question that needs to be answered. Cody is able to hold an audience’s interest simply by creating a situation and peopling it with a handful of vivid and appealing characters.
But “Tully” eventually must turn over its cards and state its intentions, and that’s where things get dicey. Out of nowhere, the movie lands in the zone of gimmick, by carting out a story trick that’s clever and yet hard to believe in terms of the characters. (It’s unsatisfying as metaphor, as well.) Thus, a movie that seems modern suddenly turns into a throwback to midcentury TV shows like “The Twilight Zone” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
Nothing against Rod Serling, but he was no Diablo Cody — and Diablo Cody is no Rod Serling. They belong to different universes.