Movie Review: The Nanny Diaries

By Anne Brodie Aug 24, 2007, 12:17 GMT

A college student (Johansson) goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York family. Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, her studies, a new romance, and the spoiled brat in her charge. ...more

What I was hoping would be a funny, wry and lighthearted film about a young woman’s adventures as a nanny turns out to be a heavy-handed morality tale.  Scarlett Johansson, the nimble and intelligent young star so beloved by Woody Allen is trapped in an unpleasant film that squashes her considerable vitality.

She plays a college graduate whose mother dearly wishes that she would go on to a high salaried profession. Mother has slaved all her life as a nurse so that her daughter would have the tools to better herself. Okay. Daughter becomes a nanny and lies to her mother about it.

So it’s off from New Jersey to the Upper East Side.

The mistress of the house (Laura Linney) is a shrew of a Park Avenue mother. A woman who does not raise her child or have a job yet has no time. She must shop and attend lectures. Therefore, nannies take on the task of raising the abandoned young boy.  Annie discovers that Mrs. X fired the previous nanny for going on a date.
Annie chooses to ignore all the red flags Mrs. X is sending up and dives right in for no real reason other than a panic attack she suffered during an interview for a job in finance. She adores the boy, hates the mother. And especially hates the philandering, cold father (Paul Giamatti).

After repeated emotional and mental abuses by Mrs. X, Annie is tempted to leave but feels she must be there for the boy.  She meets a handsome neighbour who tells her not to take it anymore.  But she can’t find her backbone.

It’s based on the bestselling book about a woman’s true-life horrific experiences as a Manhattan nanny.  I haven’t read it, hoped the film would be enough. Now I really don’t want to read the book. 

One of the film’s few interesting aspects is the subject of Manhattan anthropology. Annie is a student who tends to look at people as specimens. She envisions them in museums, representing various New York rich lady stereotypes and it’s really a fun and clever conceit.

According to the film, there is plenty of misery and injustice in the world of nannies. The practice is likened to modern day slavery that enables mothers to abandon their children in an allegedly acceptable way – to the care of a stranger who is considered ‘less than’.

Another reason why the film is sad.

It’s a good film, well directed and dense with layers of meaning and visual ironies, but it has turned marshmallow into lead.

It’s a downer.

Johansson is tragically wasted.