Movie Review: CAUTION SPOILERS AHEAD!
If you haven’t seen ‘Tully’ yet then you have probably heard some or a lot of the negative buzz surrounding this movie. Moms and mental health professionals are up in arms over this movie and I have read so many negative reviews of the film since seeing it.
I was beginning to think I was the ONLY ONE who really liked ‘Tully.’
I think we can all agree this movie is marketed as something it most definitely is not.
After seeing the trailer, then bawling my eyes out and sending the trailer to every mom friend I knew while thanking the heavens above for an honest, funny, lighthearted portrayal of motherhood… you could say I was looking forward to it.
I went to see ‘Tully’ the weekend it premiered at the end of a girls trip.
Mind. Blown.
It is seriously deep, dark, emotional, and brutally honest.
It took me almost two weeks to really come to terms with it, and I am still struggling with questions.
Heads up if you have not seen it, I am about to drop some bombs, so if you don’t want any spoilers look away now!
The movie begins just as the previews had anticipated.
Marlo, played by Charlize Theron, is a New York suburban housewife about to give birth to her third child, while juggling two kids and a husband (Ron Livingston) that travels for work and enjoys spending his free time playing video games.
Marlo’s husband seems oblivious to the stress, exhaustion, and pressure that Marlo is under just managing her every day life.
Her wealthy brother (Mark Duplass) on the other hand decides to pay for Marlo to get a ‘night nanny,’ after baby Mia is born because he says, “I just want my sister back.”
In comes Tully (Mackenzie Davis) the young, energetic, and free spirited nanny who intrigues Marlo almost instantly.
I was envying the relationship and wishing for my own nanny when Tully sleeps with Marlo’s husband.
That’s right. The nanny and the husband. I was so confused.
Then the two (Marlo & Tully) take off for a night of Cindy Lauper, drinking, and reminiscing about Marlo’s former life and the plot throws you a great big sucker punch.
Marlo ends up wrecking the car and then we are taken to her in the hospital and a nurse questioning her husband and asking ‘if Marlo has dealt with postpartum issues before, is she sleep deprived, or if she has ever experienced psychosis?’
Whoa.
So… Marlo just made up Tully? Everything starts making sense in your head as you mentally go back through everything you had just seen. So she slept with her own husband… got it.
This is where the heated debate comes in… Many people are upset that the film doesn’t delve further into the diagnosis, show screening, or even Marlo receiving mental health care.
The movie just ends with her and her husband making lunches sweetly for the kids together and nothing is said about Marlo’s diagnosis, and it is over.
I do understand why so many are upset with this ending but to be honest it seems brutally truthful to me.
Diablo Cody, the movie’s screenwriter, has responded to critics by saying, “The film is meant to be uncomfortable.”
I, personally have dealt with PPD and I really appreciated the way this film not only gives an honest portrayal of what motherhood truly is, but also shines a light on how little is really done for a mother suffering with mental health issues.
If anything, this movie has created an open forum for so many women to safely discuss and express how they have gone through and dealt with postpartum mental health issues.
We have to remember that this is one woman’s story and the way she chose to convey what she had gone through.
My interpretation of the movie was not quite as literal as others. To me, Tully was just a younger version of Marlo swooping in to remind her of who she was, and who she had always wanted to become.
I am still not sure if the film was trying to say she really had psychosis, or if that was the only way the writer could make the audience truly understand the exhaustion and desperation she felt during her postpartum depression.
Is this film completely different than the trailer? Absolutely.
Should we vilify a movie written by a woman dealing with these issues just because we do not like how her story was marketed, portrayed, or ultimately ended? I surely hope not.
All I know is postpartum mental health was not a conversation before, and now it is.
If all the buzz has not terrified you, ‘Tully,’ is worth a chance… just be prepared for some very raw emotion.
Have you seen ‘Tully?’
What were your thoughts after?
Do you feel this film will be helpful to women or hurtful?
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