Nanny McPhee

‘When you need me, but do not want me, I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, I must go’.

Set in a time period that no one’s quite sure of, and filmed in a house that would make even the tallest of bungalows weep, we start our cinematic adventure half asleep, and lulled into serenity by the soothing, dulcet tune of Colin Firth, welcoming us into the world of The Sound Of Music Gone Wrong.

This film is one of those films that takes the word ‘Juxtaposition’, considers it for a while, but eventually throws it out of the comparative window, claiming it to be far too simple. It’s got a  beautifully jaunty rhythm to it, colourful and fantastic in it’s construction, but as fairy tales go, it has to be one of the dark ones. Death surrounds the scenes like a veil, whether it be in the teapot on the chair of their father’s dead wife; or the many heart stopping and incredulous tricks performed by worryingly young and doubtedly sane siblings.

Nanny McPhee has the unique charm of taking quite a dark and twisted fairy-tale, of evil stepmothers, witches, widows and fears and layering it up with food fights, and children and fun. In particular Thomas Sangster, playing eldest Brown boy, Simon is cast into such a relatable role, as both the leader of the pack, and the one who needs the most leading. He’s the typical stubborn, moody adolescent, but he’s clever too, and he’s changeable, something which obviously inspires the other children enormously. The family dynamics are clearly the heart of the story, and it’s refreshing to see Colin Firth play such a comfortable fatherly role, taking all his Eton mannerisms and turning them into paternal flaws, and faults.

Emma Thomas starring as title character Nanny McPhee is interesting choice, but nether less a good one. Nanny McPhee as a role is terrifying, and brilliant and so heartbreakingly melancholy that it takes you until the end of the film to realise who the story was actually about. It’s easy to become absorbed in the humour and the comfort of the happy family ending, but in the end, it’s her story really. It’s Nanny McPhee showing us her finest work. We see this children well mannered and well behaved, and know that that is how she always saw them, as children that were already fixed, however unwillingly. It’s a heart-breaking thought that, in the end, she doesn’t get to be wanted, she doesn’t get to be loved like Evangeline, or like Papa, and she doesn’t become one of the family until she’s already moved on and left.

There are so many morals to this story that, when thought about, it is the  equivalent of two years social teachings condensed into two hours of fiction. Respect your parents, blood is thicker than water, money isn’t everything, do as you’re told….But the one moral I found the most interesting, personally, isn’t really a moral at all. At the start of the film, we are shown Nanny McPhee to be, for lack of other words, ugly, and a little bit frightening with her protruding tooth, bulbous nose and hairy warts, but with every lesson the children learn, she becomes that little more beautiful, until at the end of the story, she’s just as pretty as the bride she stands next to.  In terms of morals, this, for all intensive purposes,  gives us the impression that the more nice things we do, the more beautiful we become, and given that the children seem to warm to their Nanny with every wart she loses; that being attractive will make people like us. Of course, for adults, this is an obvious metaphor for inner beauty, and the attractiveness of a soul, but for children, I find that this can be ever so misleading.

In conclusion, however shallow the humour, and however pretty the actors, this film is incredibly structured, with so many inspiring teachings for children, and even some lewd innuendos for the adults. The rule about working with children and animals doesn’t seem to apply here, as every single part is spot on and perfected, and it is definitely well worth a watch.