Tully (2018), directed by Jason Reitman

Charlize Theron is Marlo, an exhausted mother of three, including a newborn and a five-year-old with challenging behaviour. Her loving husband helps out but is content to leave most of the responsibility for running the family to her. Life changes after Marlo’s wealthy brother offers to pay for a night nanny to give her a break and the spirited and supportive 20-something Tully comes into her life. Written by Diablo Cody, who also wrote Juno, the script is smart, wryly funny, heart wrenching and totally convincing. The story takes a strange turn around two-thirds in, but a twist at the end ensures that everything makes perfect sense. It is Theron’s film and she shines, but she is well supported by Mackenzie Davis as Tully and Ron Livingstone as Marlo’s husband. The marketing for this film clearly went into the too hard basket and got left to word of mouth, which means not many people have seen it. This is a great pity because it deserves an audience and audiences deserve to see more well crafted, thoughtful films that tackle difficult subjects in a sensitive and evocative manner.