Charlize Theron is Every Mother You've Ever Known in 'Tully'
Frequent collaborators director Jason Reitman (Juno) and screenwriter Diablo Cody (Young Adult), have returned with their latest entry on the exhaustive travails of adulthood. Working with the Duplass Brothers, the pair has taken another step in furthering their unique and investing storytelling aesthetic. Charlize Theron (Young Adult), another past collaborator, stars as the once spunky and now drained Marlo. We follow the end of her third pregnancy and her venture into life as a stay at home mother of three. Her husband Drew, played with a classic and delightful obliviousness by Ron Livingston (Office Space), is in the midst of a major promotion, keeping him at arm's length of the family for most of the film. Before the inciting incident of Tully's hiring as a night nanny for Marlo, the film approaches the complexity of many modern issues with subtlety and ease. Cody's writing shines as the film reckons with the potential mental disability of Marlo's only son, the tensions between her and her upper-class brother and sister-in-law, and the disconnectedness that accompanies dependence on technology.
The crux of the film, however, is Tully, a bright-eyed, wise beyond her years, yet "older than she looks" night nanny, whom Marlo hires at the peak of her exhaustion out of pure desperation. Played vivaciously by Mackenzie Davis (Blade Runner 2049), Tully is quick to lighten the load on Marlo's shoulders. As the two become more acquainted through the newborn Mia, they start to examine their respective lives, loves, and desires. It is a quaint story between the two, and a relationship of honest and relaxed humor that contrasts starkly with the other moving parts in Marlo's life.
What sets Tully apart from other films of this nature has got to be its marriage of writing and performance. Cody has commented in recent interviews that this script came from a period of time where she experienced an exhaustion that seemed inescapable. She wished, at that point, for someone to rescue her from all the day to day tasks that bore down on her. The candor of the script required a level of vulnerability in its star and considering Cody also wrote Young Adult, it would be no surprise if she had Theron in mind. Theron, as is to be expected judging by every good film she's made this century, clearly threw herself at this role. The commitment to the look and physicality speaks for itself, but her true prowess lies in her delivery. Credit is owed in part to Cody of course, but Theron's quiet refusal to surrender despite the toll of her young family is a testament to mothers everywhere. Her Marlo is instantly knowable, from every snarky comment to every deserved, if not misunderstood outburst. And because of this, the film is able to explore the true cost of love that many do not often get to see.
There isn't too much to be said for the film's final act. The story seems to write itself into the corner of a foreseeable, not entirely satisfactory outcome. While not necessarily devaluing the story's moral, the conclusion makes a bold choice in the way the plot is conveyed. Such a strong focus on Marlo for the majority of the film provides us with the intricacies of her character but deliberately starves us of a fuller exposition. In this way, her relationship with Tully remains alive, intriguing and almost mysterious. But by the end, we are spoon-fed just about everything there is to know. I, for one, felt stuffed. It is certainly a trip worth taking, and if nothing else, the resolution will leave you thinking.
