Balancing a mixture of touching vulnerability and whimsical everyday comedy is not easy. But if you pull it off, the audience may be speechless.
Charlize Theron is probably known to many exclusively for her tough action roles. As Furiosa, she is on par with a Mad Max in terms of toughness and coolness. As the Atomic Blonde, she eats thugs for breakfast. But Theron has a much broader range than that. The actress can also be soft, vulnerable and incredibly touching.
She proves this in a captivating way in Jason Reitman’s dramatic comedy Tully, in which she slips into the role of a mother who is slowly despairing. Together with Mackenzie Davis, she delivers a performance here that encompasses all the feelings of the human spectrum and then adds a bit of mystery. Tully is now available on Amazon Prime in the streaming flat rate.
In Tully on Amazon Prime, a completely exhausted mother suddenly receives unexpected help
Marlo (Theron) has just become a mother for the third time. And as much as she loves her children and wants to be there for them, she doesn’t want to hear about “motherly happiness” at the moment. She is overtired, exhausted, overwhelmed and permanently stressed. But before the final collapse, rescue is at the door: Tully (Davis).
Tully is a nanny for the night that Marlo’s brother has hired to support her. This way, Marlo could finally sleep through the night again. She is reluctant to accept these new circumstances and is initially hesitant to give up control.
But the more time she spends with Tully and the better she gets to know the nanny, the closer the two women become. Marlo realizes that she didn’t just need support – she needed a friend. And she finds that in Tully. Even if she sometimes has unconventional ideas and can be a bit weird.
Tully with Charlize Theron is deeply touching and wonderfully light-footed at the same time
Tully is a permanent tightrope walk. An eternal balancing act between two poles that should actually get in each other’s way: it’s relentlessly moving and twists us through the emotional wringer. Yet at the same time, it’s so gentle and empathetic in the way it deals with its subject matter that it sometimes feels like a hug. And it’s funny on top of that.
The film is almost disarmingly simple when it comes to the problems of our main character. At the same time, it poses puzzles that penetrate ever deeper into our brain convolutions and paint ever larger question marks on our faces. Tully is hilarious and completely unagitated, conciliatory and looking for a fight. A bold move and a retreat to the safety of the nest.
All of this could fall apart mercilessly and fail because of his emotional conflicts. But the two women at the center, as well as their actresses, guide us through the labyrinth with a light hand and without any effort. It makes you tired, worried, cheerful and confident – it gives you hope and gives everyone in the same situation a little more strength.
