Written and Directed by: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Cast: Scarlett Johansson (1), Laura Linney (2), Chris Evans (3), Alicia Keys (4), and Donna Murphy (5)
My favourite quotes -
"
Just remember, Grove,
that money can't buy love." & "
Did you know? - The film is based on a book of the same name and has a
sequel called Nanny Returns. Written by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, both of
whom are former nannies. The book satirizes upper class Manhattan society as
seen through the eyes of their children's caregivers. The writers were students at New York University’s Gallatin School
of Individualised Study when they wrote the book. Both had worked as nannies
for about 30 different wealthy families on the Upper East Side, where the book
is set.
Happy birthday Ah Pak! And thank you for helping to bring me up and for taking care of me for 28 years. Ah Pak is what I call my maid/nanny. I've been calling her Ah Pak for as long as I can remember. She's been taking care of me since I was a year and a half. And to me she's family. In fact, I have on a handful of occasions accidentally called her "Mum". Sorry mummy!
Yesterday was Ah Pak's birthday and late at night after I gave her the present I got her and her birthday cake, I watched The Nanny Dairies again because it seemed apt. I was deciding between The Help or The Nanny Dairies and well, the later seemed more appropriate. I don't really know why I didn't think to watch Mary Poppins since this film pays homage to it in some scenes of the film, but ultimately I settled for The Nanny Diaries. In fact, the show's titular character Annie was 21 when she became a nanny in the film. The same age Ah Pak was when she first came to Singapore and took care of me.
While my parents were much more involved in my life and upbringing than in Grayer's life, and even though I'm not a rich kid living on Fifth Avenue, I can relate to Grayer on a small level, so I connected with this film easily. The following two sets of dialogue will tell you all you need to know about the obvious theme of the film.
Grayer:
When I grow up, I want enough money to build the real castle.
Annie
Braddock: Just remember, Grove, that money can't buy love.
Grayer: But mommy pays you money, and I
love you!
Money can't buy love. To a child, all they want is to love and be loved by their parents. They want to know that no matter how good or bad they are, their parents will love them unconditionally. No one else can or should replace the parents in a child's life. Nannies or maids taking care and bringing up the children of various societies is becoming an ever-growing trend. It is evident not only in Manhattan, it happens here in Singapore as well. I know and understand that working adults find it hard to juggle their career and family. I think when or if I start a family, I will face that very same problem of being an absent parent. However, the situation depicted in the film is not so much a lack of time but the misplacement of importance.
Money can't buy love. To a child, all they want is to love and be loved by their parents. They want to know that no matter how good or bad they are, their parents will love them unconditionally. No one else can or should replace the parents in a child's life. Nannies or maids taking care and bringing up the children of various societies is becoming an ever-growing trend. It is evident not only in Manhattan, it happens here in Singapore as well. I know and understand that working adults find it hard to juggle their career and family. I think when or if I start a family, I will face that very same problem of being an absent parent. However, the situation depicted in the film is not so much a lack of time but the misplacement of importance.
Annie
Braddock: Okay Mrs. X, now it's time for a few simple childcare
rules.
Parents Society Speaker: Oh, alright, the teddy bear has been compromised.
Annie Braddock: Slamming the door in your kid's face is NOT okay. Spending more time on a benefit for kids that you've never met than you do with your own blood is NOT okay. Going to a SPA when your son has a fever of a hundred and four and not answering emergency calls, that officially makes you an unfit mother.
Mrs. X: This is outrageous. Stop the tape.
Parents Society Speaker: Uh, no. This is clearly a disgruntled nanny. We might have something to learn here.
Annie Braddock: Now I know that you're really pretty busy with your hair appointments, and your watsu massages and your attempts to stay young so your husband won't leave you. But here's an idea! Why don't you try eating dinner with your child every once in a blue moon. And a heads up here lady, try smiling once in a while. People hate you. As for you Mr X, who the hell are you? Maybe you’re asking the same about me. I know you notice my ass but you probably don’t recognise my face so here’s a little hint okay, I’m the one who’s been raising your son. Grayer is not an accessory; his mother didn’t order him from a catalogue. Your son, your wife, are people in your home, human beings who are drowning in their desire for you to just, for you to look at them. You know the truth is I don’t wish either of you harm. If for no other reason than you having the profound privilege of being Grayer’s parents. Grayer loves you. He doesn’t care what you’re wearing or what you buy him or what school he gets into, he just wants you there. That’s it. And time’s running out, he won’t love you unconditionally that much longer. So for your own good, don’t miss out on getting to know him. He is truly an amazing, amazing little person.
Parents Society Speaker: Oh, alright, the teddy bear has been compromised.
Annie Braddock: Slamming the door in your kid's face is NOT okay. Spending more time on a benefit for kids that you've never met than you do with your own blood is NOT okay. Going to a SPA when your son has a fever of a hundred and four and not answering emergency calls, that officially makes you an unfit mother.
Mrs. X: This is outrageous. Stop the tape.
Parents Society Speaker: Uh, no. This is clearly a disgruntled nanny. We might have something to learn here.
Annie Braddock: Now I know that you're really pretty busy with your hair appointments, and your watsu massages and your attempts to stay young so your husband won't leave you. But here's an idea! Why don't you try eating dinner with your child every once in a blue moon. And a heads up here lady, try smiling once in a while. People hate you. As for you Mr X, who the hell are you? Maybe you’re asking the same about me. I know you notice my ass but you probably don’t recognise my face so here’s a little hint okay, I’m the one who’s been raising your son. Grayer is not an accessory; his mother didn’t order him from a catalogue. Your son, your wife, are people in your home, human beings who are drowning in their desire for you to just, for you to look at them. You know the truth is I don’t wish either of you harm. If for no other reason than you having the profound privilege of being Grayer’s parents. Grayer loves you. He doesn’t care what you’re wearing or what you buy him or what school he gets into, he just wants you there. That’s it. And time’s running out, he won’t love you unconditionally that much longer. So for your own good, don’t miss out on getting to know him. He is truly an amazing, amazing little person.
Growing up on Hollywood movies and western ideas, I always watch films depicting the close parent-child relationships, where the parent reads to the child before bedtime, and the mother-daughter relationship is more reminiscent of best friends rather than between parent and child. But in a traditional Asian family setting, it is vastly different.
In Asian families, there is an invisible line separating the father and the child, and there are certain boundaries the child and parent does not cross for the fear of diluting the role of the disciplinarian in the family. Asian mothers are more of a grey area. And it really depends on whether the father is the disciplinarian or the mother. And if you ask me which I prefer, despite being brought up in a traditional Asian style of parenting, I prefer to be my child's mother and best friend.
In a film with such a negative look at the parenting style of certain individuals, it is a huge contrast to the relationship between Scarlett Johansson's Annie and her mother Judy Braddock, played by Donna Murphy. They share a close relationship but the role of the disciplinarian is still present. Her mother has a lot of expectations and sometimes comes across as too overbearing. But she still loves her daughter enough to recognise that its her life to lead and whether she fails or succeeds, she will be there for her no matter what.
