Tully
5 stars
Director: Jason Reitman
Stars: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass
Duration: 96 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Charlize Theron is Marlo, frazzled wife to Drew (Ron Livingston) and mother of three eight-year-old Sarah, five-year-old Jonah and a newborn child. As a gift for the new arrival, her brother Craig (Mark Duplass) offers her the services of a night nanny, a woman who will come to Marlo’s home every evening to look after the baby to help her to get a good night’s sleep.

Marlo refuses, thinking it extravagant, not to say a tad weird. Yet, she soon succumbs to the temptation and is eventually surprised and delighted by the bond she forms with Tully (Mackenzie Davis) the helpful, spirited and inspirational young woman who turns up.

Tully is described as a comedy. Yet, for all its wit and numerous humorous moments, there is quite a bit a drama in there. These are all bound together with assurance, wit and warmth by Diablo Cody, the screenwriter behind such gems as Juno and Young Adult, the latter also starring Theron.

The director behind all three movies is Jason Reitman, and his partnership with Cody has once again hit cinematic gold, bringing to viewers a realistic and empathetic portrait of the everyday struggles of ordinary women in contemporary America – teen pregnancy in Juno; fading youth in Young Adult; and here, a warm, witty and incisive look at the trials and tribulations of motherhood.

The director has once again hit cinematic gold

Even viewers like myself who have never had children will immediately empathise with Marlo’s plight as she juggles seemingly insurmountable obstacles – and Reitman pulls no punches in depicting them.

Young Jonah is on the spectrum, and it is being suggested by the superficially sympathetic principal at his school that he will be better off with home schooling. The birth of her third child is unglamorous and ignominious – the nurse ordering her to take a post-partum pee is pretty humiliating.

The routine of those first few weeks – breastfeeding, nappy changing, housekeeping, trying (and failing) to be a good mother and wife –  rush by in a frenzied blur, while post-natal depression insidiously begins to set in. No wonder Marlo is prone to screaming sessions, watches trash TV as a distraction and has zero interest in sex with her loving but acutely unaware husband.

All this darkness is brightened by the energising rays of sunshine Tully brings into Marlo’s life, not only offering her the prime reward of proper sleep and real help, but the companionship, understanding and empathy that she truly craves.

And Tully the film and Tully the character are much more than that, though I can’t divulge much without giving things away. There is a twist in the tale, which I certainly didn’t see coming, despite the hints here and there that Cody tantalisingly and imperceptibly drops in. Once realisation sets in I admit to having a bit of a ‘WTF?’ moment followed by a ‘wow’ one. It is to the film’s credit that, for a good while after the credits roll, I pondered the fact I never saw that coming. 

Theron, always game to face a challenge, steps effortlessly into the shoes of our exhausted protagonist. Sans makeup, often in house-clothes, struggling with her weight and looking generally miserable, she uncompromisingly embraces the character, flaws and all. All the while, she offers glimpses of the self-possessed working mum, easily handling a full-time job and two children, that Marlo once was underneath the snappish behaviour and general lethargy that consumes her before slowing coming back to life in Tully’s company.

Relatively new face Mackenzie Davis is one I hope to see more of in future. Tully may come across as young, flighty, overly-exuberant – no wonder Marlo baulks when she first meets her. But, as the friendship between the two solidifies, in Davis’s performance the young nanny’s intellect, capacity for compassion and empathy shines through effortlessly.

Tully is a film that grips you from the get-go, with a script that offers equal amount penetrating wisdom and zippy zingers; nuanced three-dimensional characters brought to life by excellent performances.