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The Nanny

Name: The Nanny
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Released: 1999
Duration: 106 min

Representation Score

8.1/10

Excellent

1999

Director

Marco Bellocchio

Runtime

106 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Marco Bellocchio’s drama succeeds by dismantling the stability of the bourgeois family. By focusing on the wet nurse, Annette, the film shifts power from traditional patriarchal and maternal structures to a underrepresented class figure. The film effectively critiques social and medical institutions. It uses the tension between urban elites and rural peasants to explore themes of intellectual autonomy and systemic repression. However, the film remains limited in its explicit representation of identity. It lacks overt LGBTQ+ visibility and treats disability as a symbolic tool for institutional critique rather than a lived experience.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Nanny have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not explicitly focus on non-straight relationships or gender identities. Instead, it explores unconventional emotional bonds through a psychological perspective.

How does The Nanny portray gender?

Good

The story challenges traditional gender roles by showing the male psychiatrist as ineffective. It highlights the wet nurse's role as a key figure with significant influence.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Nanny?

Fair

Set in early 20th-century Italy, the film emphasizes class differences over ethnic diversity. It uses the contrast between peasants and the bourgeoisie to critique systemic oppression.

How does The Nanny represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film critiques Western institutions, depicting the family and medical establishments as sources of repression. It incorporates leftist political movements to challenge established social orders.

Does The Nanny include disability representation?

Fair

The psychiatric asylum serves as a symbol of institutional control. The film focuses on sociological dynamics rather than the personal experiences of characters with disabilities.

Present on Screen

Challenges traditional gender roles and patriarchal authority.
Highlights the intellectual pursuits and ability to act of the working-class protagonist.
Critiques bourgeois social structures and medical institutions effectively.

Limited or Absent

Needs more explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities.
Should focus more on the lived experiences of characters with disabilities.
Homogeneous ethnic casting reflects a specific historical and social context.

Official Synopsis

Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who runs an asylum for women and lacks imagination in his practice, must find a wet nurse for his infant when his wife panics after childbirth. He brings a peasant, Annette, to Rome, forcing her to leave her own baby behind. To the consternation and increasing anger of the wife, the nanny immediately bonds with the couple's infant son - Annette's a natural. Against a backdrop of leftist demonstrations, Annette, who's lover is a teacher jailed for subversion, asks the doctor to teach her to read and write. Her nature and curiosity, the doctor's bland ideas, he and his wife's problems, and the two infants bring the story to a head.

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