a Mary Poppins in witch mode

M6 – WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25 AT 9:10 P.M. – FILM

We will recognize in Nanny McPhee many traits of the most famous of her colleagues, Mary Poppins. She arrives at the time when the last of the nurses hired by Mr. Brown to take care of his seven children has just resigned. She uses unorthodox means of transportation (she prefers teleportation to umbrellas) and storage and order maintenance techniques that would have gotten her burned during the time of the Inquisition.

More Nanny McPheethe film, is not a pastiche of the musical comedy produced by Walt Disney in 1964. The interpreter of the title role, Emma Thompson, wrote the screenplay, taken from a series of books by Christianna Brand. She reserved the title role for herself and took care to avoid anything that gave Julie Andrews' somewhat cloying charm in Mary Poppins. Nanny McPhee is ugly: she has a big nose, a prominent tooth and warts; she is ageless and always dressed in black; she never smiles.

This is necessary to bring peace to the home of Mr Brown (Colin Firth), confronted with the appetite for destruction of his offspring, traumatized by the death of their mother. Nanny McPhee's use of magic is not seductive, it is a weapon of terror, which will reduce the most ardent of rebellions.

Playful cruelty

Precisely, when she arrives at the Browns' house, the nurse discovers the seven children employed in torturing the cook (Imelda Staunton) and destroying the kitchen (previously, we will have seen them making their youngest sister, a baby, a whole job). quite original, which involves cabbage and chicken juice). The punishment that the woman in black creates is commensurate with this violence.

It is in this playful cruelty (and never pushed very far) that Nanny McPhee stands out from the rest of children's production. The storyline also involves a rich, short-sighted and mean aunt (Angela Lansbury), two very cheerful undertakers (Derek Jacobi and Patrick Barlow), a big-hearted servant (Kelly Macdonald) and a man-eater (Celia Imrie). .

Every time the children go along with her arguments, Nanny McPhee loses one of her physical flaws. We would have liked this lovely discovery to be applied to the staging. This initially gives the impression of a joyful collage of borrowings from British horror films, Victorian theater, musicals… But it soon takes on digital effects and bouts of sentimentality which spoil a little the pleasure provided by the enthusiasm and talent of the cast, which we will have noticed that it brings together some of the best actors in the kingdom.