Amazon.com video review:
A potboiler featuring a demented caretaker and a seemingly
hapless suburban family, this is
The Nanny of the
1990s. However, it is much more predictable than that 1965 Bette Davis
psychodrama, and more graphic. It works only because Rebecca De Mornay
makes us intensely uncomfortable as the disturbed au pair who wants to
take care of much more than her employer's well-being.
Annabella Sciorra plays the perfect mother of a flawless family. Her
obstetrician, however, is less than wonderful, having enjoyed her
examination much more than he should have. When she files sexual
harassment charges against the repugnant doctor, he loses
face--literally--after shooting himself in the head. Several months
later, an ideal nanny shows up at her home. You guessed it--she's the
doc's widow.
The movie follows a tried and true formula, with the audience in on
everything. However, the story does surprise us in intense and
intimate ways. The visit to the obstetrician is one of the creepiest
moments in the film. You definitely hear the voice of writer Amanda
Silver in a plot concerned with the vulnerabilities of a family, a
newborn, a marriage.
Since we know so much up front, there is an overall lack of
inventiveness in the plot machinations. It may not jolt us, but De
Mornay does. It's unsettling to watch someone who appears so
attractive and who behaves so kindly suddenly reveal hideous
psychopathic tendencies. Restraining herself from going over the top,
she instead oozes such malevolence you'll want to shudder.
--Rochelle O'Gorman
