What makes a great film?
As the Academy Awards approach, it’s once again time to ask the age-old question: “What is the greatest film of all time?” Sadly, due to the overly broad nature of this problem, it is a very difficult question to answer… Is Citizen Kane the greatest movie of all time? Is it Casablanca? How about The Godfather? The possibilities are endless.
Fortunately, however, while we will never know what the “world’s greatest film” is… there is one certain niche film genre that has a clear frontrunner:
Nanny McPhee is the Citizen Kane of nanny movies.
Which is to say that it is the best.
See, in the extraordinary small subsection of “nanny films” (films about nannies) the seminal 2005 classic Nanny McPhee (starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth) is, without a doubt, the greatest of its genre. From the movie’s very first shots of its titular Ms. McPhee (the film’s quote, unquote “nanny”), all the way to its grand finale (wherein Ms. McPhee successfully nannies her surrogate family, thus fulfilling her many nanny obligations), this nanny film unequivocally places itself in a much-higher tier than 99.99% of its similarly nanny-themed peers.
Indeed, when compared with Nanny McPhee, virtually every other entry in the (again, extremely niche) genre of “nanny movie” can’t help but pale in comparison. Take, for example, other, similarly acclaimed nanny films such as A Nanny For Christmas (2010), or The Reluctant Nanny (2015), or even Michael Gottlieb’s vastly underappreciated Mr. Nanny (1993). Clearly, these are all well-made, quality films about nannies and nanny culture…
But let’s not mince words. Nanny McPhee is better.
I mean, let’s just consider all that Nanny McPhee does to revolutionize its genre: performance-wise, the film’s nuanced-yet-matronly depiction of its titular Ms. McPhee is, quite frankly, just as iconic as Orson Welles’ portrayal of the titular Citizen Kane (at least, in the context of nanny movies it is). And, from a textual perspective, Ms. McPhee’s oft-repeated statement: “When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go” is just as quotable and paradigmatic as Citizen Kane’s famous line, “Rosebud.”
But again, only in the context of nanny movies.
In the context of regular movies, Nanny McPhee is… not great.
Now, obviously, by this point in the article, I’m sure that many readers are shaking their heads and muttering, “Well sure, Nanny McPhee is a solid nanny film. But what about Mary Poppins? What about The Sound of Music? Aren’t these also great movies about nannies?”
And yes, this is a very compelling argument… but let’s make one thing absolutely clear, people. These films are not nanny films. A “nanny film” is a film that is specifically about nannies.
And nothing else.
So, as you can hopefully see, in this context, Mary Poppins is nothing more than a hacky, period-specific musical that appropriates the “nanny” trope as an overarching plot device. And similarly, The Sound of Music is just a historically-specific rom-com that uses a quote, unquote “nanny archetype” as a convenient, albeit effective, thematic framework.
But they are not nanny movies.
A real nanny movie is only about nannies.
A real nanny movie has the word “nanny” in the title.
A real nanny movie is Nanny McPhee.
And Nanny McPhee is a real great nanny movie.
Now, before I leave, I’d like to make one point absolutely clear. In this article, am I suggesting that Nanny McPhee is (in any way) better than a non-nanny-themed movie like, say, Casablanca? Or The Godfather? Or Citizen Kane? No. God no. But in the highly stylized (and again, very, very niche) world of nanny film, this movie is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the archetype to which all other nanny movies aspire.
Truly folks, Nanny McPhee is the Citizen Kane of nanny films.