TULLY

US, 2018, 97 minutes, Colour.
Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston, Elaine Tan.
Directed by Jason Reitman.

A film with which female audiences will identify, especially mothers, and, even more especially, mothers coping with young children. Tully is also a film with which a male audience might not immediately identify (a bit like some of the husbands in this film) – but Tully is definitely a film they ought to watch.

Diablo Cody, and to play with her name, has a devilish kind of ability to combine the serious and the comic (Juno, Young Adult), she has written a screenplay that is close to the bone in its seriousness but also provokes the audience to smile, even laugh, despite themselves. The film is directed by Jason Reitman who also directed Charlize Theron in Young Adult.

And, despite the title, which refers to the engaging of a night nanny who is hired for the family night shift, and her name is Tully, played quite exuberantly and charmingly by Mackenzie Davis. The centre of the film is Marlo. And Charlize Theron, who can definitely be glamorous in films and has been over the last 20 years, also excels at roles which are not glamorous at all. She won an Oscar in 2003 for her portrayal of the serial killer, definitely not glamorous, Aileen Wournos, Monster.

At the opening of the film, she is very pregnant, hassled by all the care of the house, by her two young children, a daughter aged nine and a younger boy who is described throughout the film as “quirky�, overstimulated by external sources, sometimes an exasperating and burdensome child whom, each night, Marlo gently brushes. This is being recommended by a therapist to calm her son down. Her husband, Drew, Ron Livingston amiable but a man who could be far more attentive than he realises, is supportive, but…

Rather exasperating for Marlo in her condition is her affluent brother, Craig (Mark Duplass) and his wife who is prone to making blandly wearing comments that do nothing for Marlo’s patience. However, Craig does give the gift of money to hire a night nanny.

There is an exhausting collage (for the audience, let alone Marlo) of the three weeks after the birth of the daughter, Mia. There is the demanding routine of crying in the night, waking up, going to the baby, breastfeeding, putting the baby down, going back to bed, and the possibility of the routine happening all over again. Eventually, Marlo gives the night nanny a ring.

Tully, the nanny, is all that a nanny might be. Despite Marlo’s hesitations, Tully is wonderful with the baby, watches happily as Marlo breastfeeds, tidies up the house, becomes more of a friend and a confidante with some wise advice.

Sometimes there is a mixture of reality and fantasy, Marlo’s dreams with her son banging the back of the driver’s seat in the car, scenes of a mermaid and an underwater rescue from a waterlogged car, the fact that Marlo’s maiden name was Tully, sexual encouragement for Drew.

Perhaps Tully is too good to be true. But her message, the hopeful message of the film, is that a strong inner self should emerge to confront the difficulties of day by day, and that husbands become much more aware of the reality of their wives’ experiences and support and for them. No quarrel with that.

1. The title? The neighbour Tully? For the carer? Marlo’s maiden name? Indications of connections? Two aspects of the self?

2. A film of women’s issues? Relationships, marriage, fatherhood and men’s issues?

3. Family issues, love, children, pregnancy, birth, the aftermath?

4. The portrait of Marlo? Charlize Theron and her screen presence, her age, not being glamorous, being real? The beginning, her pregnancy, looking large, her moods, lounging around? Her brother and his wife, wealthy, the wife and her comments, the meal? Comparisons? Drew, the marriage, Marla’s love for him? His personality? With the children, the job and the trips? Their life together?

5. Home, school, hospitals? New York, the highways, the clubs, Marlo’s neighbourhood? The river?

6. Marlo, her being tired, brushing Jonah and the explanation for the therapy, his hyperactivity, comments that he was quirky? At school, his outbursts, the principal, the interviews, Jonah having to go, yet her being courteous, Marlo’s brother financing the school? The quiet assistant? Marlo and the relationship with her daughter? Concerned about her changing? Jonah being asked to leave the school, the difficulties and diplomacy for the principal, Marlo’s apology – and a cupcake?

7. The birth, Drew being present? Her brother and his wife? The gift of the payment for the night nurse? The impact of the collage of the nights of the first three weeks, crying in the night, getting out, breastfeeding, back to bed, unable to sleep, tired? Drew, basic support, but going to bed and playing the computer games? Taking Marlo for granted? Audience response to him into this tension?

8. The brother, the gift of the money, the nature of the helper, Marlo’s resistance, becoming more desperate, the phone call?

9. Tully arriving, her age, personality, the night regime, napping during the day, studies? Waking Marlo to feed the baby, then caring for it, her charm with the baby? Her looking intensely at Marlo? Tidying the house, making the cupcakes? The bond between the two women, their talk, Tully and her wisdom, good advice, sharing, the issue of sexual provocation of Drew and the reaction? Marlo and independence? The outing to the city, leaving Drew alone, the clubs, the wild times, Tully giving the information that she had to leave, Marlo being upset, cycling to her old neighbourhood, the memories of the past? Driving, trying to keep awake, the crash? And the imagery of the mermaid to the rescue?

10. Marlo in hospital, the doctor’s advice, the diagnosis of her being tired, Drew and his explanation, about Tully? His having to learn, to support his wife? Marlo bonding with her daughter? Not having to brush Jonah but happy to be with him and he with her? The possibilities for the future?

11. The blend of the realistic, the imaginative, the mermaid in the dreams, Marlo and her nightmares with Jonah’s behaviour, in the backseat of the car, kicking? Tully’s presence and the encouragement of Marlo’s inner life and soul to emerge? The past, her being put down, her expectations of life?

12. A humane and concerned film? Women’s responses? Men’s responses? Hope?