Nanny McPhee
| Nanny McPhee | |
|---|---|
 Nanny McPhee promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Kirk Jones |
| Written by | Emma Thompson Christianna Brand (books) |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan Lindsay Doran Eric Fellner |
| Starring | Emma Thompson Colin Firth Angela Lansbury |
| Cinematography | Henry Braham |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | October 21 2005 (UK) January 27, 2006 (USA) January 12, 2006 (Australia) |
Running time | 1 hour and 38 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $34,000,000 (estimated) |
Nanny McPhee is a 2005 children's film. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books. On theBBC One television show Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, Emma Thompson revealed that a film trilogy is planned. It was premièred in the Showcase Cinemas in Coatbridge near Glasgow.
Plot summary
Widower and undertaker 41-year-old Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) has seven children: 11-year-old Simon (Thomas Sangster), 10-year-old Tora (Eliza Bennett), 9-year-old Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), 8-year-old Eric (Rapheal Coleman), 7-year-old Sebastian (Sam Honywood), 5-year-old Chrissy (Holly Gibbs) and 1-year-old Aggie (Hebe Barnes and Zinnia Barnes). He loves his children but spends little time with them and cannot handle them. The children have had a series of seventeen nannies, which they systematically drive out by bad behavior; it is a point of pride for them to drive out each nanny as fast as possible. They also terrorize the cook, Mrs. Blatherwick, but are cared for and loved by Evangeline, the scullery maid.
Cedric attempts to hire another nanny from the agency who gave him the past seventeen nannies that the children scared away, but the nanny agency wouldn't allow him to hire another. Being desperate after being refused, he is about to return home when he hears the mysterious voice from the house "The person you need is Nanny McPhee." After a series of mysterious events, an unusual and ugly woman named Nanny McPhee comes to help, introducing herself as a "government nanny". With discipline and a little magic, she transforms the family's lives. In the process, she herself transforms from ugly to beautiful. The children, led by the eldest son Simon, attempt to play their tricks on her, but gradually start to respect her and ask her for advice. They change into responsible people, helping their hapless father in solving the family problems, making Nanny McPhee less and less needed.
The family is financially supported by near-sighted Aunt Adelaide (the late Mrs. Brown's aunt). However, she demands custody over one of the children. She first wants Christianna, one of the daughters, but, as the children - and Cedric himself - are loathe to part with one of the siblings, Simon offers up Evangeline in Chrissy's place. Adelaide agrees, assuming that she is one of the daughters, adopting her as her own, something which satisfies both Evangeline's wish to be properly educated and the requirement of Adelaide's latest condition to the contract.
She also threatens to cut off the allowance and reduce the family to poverty unless Cedric remarries within the month. The family would lose the house, and would not be able to stay together. Desperate, Cedric turns to the vulgar Mrs. Selma Quickly, local widow of three husbands with garish taste in clothing. The children assume from fairy tales that stepmothers are terrible. Therefore, they sabotage a visit of Mrs. Quickly, who leaves, angry at Cedric. After the children are explained the truth of their father's situation, they agree to the marriage, and appease Mrs. Quickly by confessing they were to blame for the disturbance of her visit.
However, on the day of the wedding, they discover that Mrs. Quickly is unkind, as they suspected all along. This point is proven when Mrs. Quickly breaks Aggie's rattle, the last thing they had to remind them of their mother. When everyone is gathered for the marriage ceremony, they disturb the ceremony by pretending a swarm of bees has been attracted to Quickly's flowered hat (with Nanny McPhee secretly joining in). Things quickly get out of hand, resulting in a food fight. Cedric understands that they do not like the bride, and that he does not like her himself, and therefore starts disrupting the ceremony himself. Mrs. Quickly cancels the marriage and storms off.
This seems to mean that Adelaide's marriage deadline is missed. But then Lily asks Evangeline whether she loves Cedric, before clearing up the idea of incest. She first denies it, explaining that that would be inappropriate because of her station as maidservant, but then admits she does. Cedric then admits that, he too is in love with Evangeline. Cedric then marries Evangeline.
Nanny McPhee taps her magic staff one last time, and a glorious shower of snow decorates the landscape, providing the perfect backdrop for the marriage of Cedric and Evangeline. (It also relates to when Mrs. Blatherwick used the terms "It'll be snowing in August before this family is straightened out!" and "It'll be snowing in August before she's here when ya need her(Evangeline)!") Aunt Adelaide's demand is satisfied, and all of the family's problems are solved.
Her duty done, Nanny McPhee leaves surreptitiously, but not before fixing Aggie's rattle, in accordance with what she told the children before: "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go."
Nanny McPhee's five lessons
Nanny McPhee has five very important base lessons which she teaches the children, while also teaching them discipline, manners and the consequences of their actions. She also has five disfiguring marks on her face: two warts, a unibrow, a large nose, and a tooth protruding from her mouth, giving her the appearance of a stereotypical witch. Whenever a lesson is learned, one of these disfigurements vanishes. When all five lessons are learned, Nanny McPhee will turn from a witch-like apperance to be very beautiful.
- First lesson - To go to bed when they are told - Hair goes from grey to brown
- Second lesson - To get up when they are told - Higher Wart disappears
- Third lesson - To get dressed when they are told - Lower Wart disappears
- Fourth lesson - To listen - Monobrow disappears, plus hair goes blonder
- Fifth lesson - To do as they are told - Nose no longer ugly, plus tooth goes away
Cast
- Nanny McPhee - Emma Thompson
- Cedric Brown - Colin Firth
- Evangeline - Kelly Macdonald
- Great Aunt Adelaide - Angela Lansbury
- Mrs. Selma Quickly - Celia Imrie
- Mrs. Blatherwick - Imelda Staunton
- Mr. Wheen - Derek Jacobi
- Mr. Jowls - Patrick Barlow
- Simon - Thomas Sangster
- Tora - Eliza Bennett
- Lily - Jennifer Rae Daykin
- Eric - Raphael Coleman
- Sebastian - Samuel Honywood
- Christianna (Chrissy) - Holly Gibbs
- Agatha (Aggy) - Hebe Barnes and Zinnia Barnes
Box office
The film did well at the box office, earning $47,144,110 domestically, and $75,345,712 in foreign box offices - bringing it to a worldwide total of $122,489,822. It premièred on January 27, 2006 with an opening weekend total of $14,503,650 in 1,995 theaters for an average of $7,270 per theater.
