69. Nanny McPhee (01)

Title: Nanny McPhee (01)
Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Year: 2005

Summary: In 19th century England, widowed Cedric Brown has seven children: 11-year old Simon, 10-year old Tora, 9-year old Lily, 8-year old Eric, 7-year old Sebastian, 5-year old Christianna and 1-year old baby Agatha (Hebe and Zinnia Barnes). He loves his children very much, but spends little time with them, unable to handle raising them all on his own, after their mother died. The children have had a series of seventeen nannies, whom they systematically drive out; it is a point of pride for them to get rid of each nanny as fast as possible. They also terrorize the cook, Mrs. Blatherwick but are cared for and loved by Evangeline the young scullery maid.

Cedric attempts to hire another nanny from the agency that sent the past seventeen nannies, but the agency refuses him, as the children have sent the past nannies away, terrorized. Desperate to find another nanny, Cedric heeds the advice of a mysterious voice from the house, which says, "the person you need is Nanny McPhee." After a series of mysterious events, an unusual and hideous woman named Nanny McPhee arrives at Brown home, introducing herself as a "government nanny." By using magic to force the children to destroy the kitchen (almost boiling Aggie in the process), she teaches them to go to bed when they're told. In similar fashions, with discipline and magic, she transforms the family's lives. In the process, she herself transforms from ugly to beautiful. The children, led by 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, and making Nanny McPhee less and less needed.

The family is financially supported by the late Mrs. Brown's Aunt, the fearsome Lady Adelaide Stitch. Though she is acting in concern for the well-being of her family, Lady Adelaide is the source of major conflicts in the Browns' lives. In conjunction with her support for the family, Lady Adelaide demands custody over one of the children in order to ensure their continued education and proper upbringing in society. She initially chooses Christianna to go with her, but as the children - and Cedric himself - loathe the idea of parting with one of the siblings, Simon offers up Evangeline in Chrissy's place. Adelaide agrees, assuming that she is one of the daughters, and adopts Evangeline as her own. Both Evangeline's desire to be properly educated, as well as Adelaide's latest contractual stipulation, are satisfied by the act of trickery.

Lady Adelaide also demands that Cedric remarry within the month, threatening to cut off the family's allowance and have him sent to debtors' prison if he fails to do so. Desperate to keep his family together and prevent losing his house, Cedric turns to the vulgar and thrice-widowed Mrs. Selma Quickly, a local woman with garish taste in clothing. Based on the image of stepmothers in fairy tales, the children assume that stepmothers are all cruel, and attempt to sabotage a visit from Mrs. Quickly. However, their tricks backfire and Mrs. Quickly initially assumes that Mr. Brown is keener on her than he actually is. During the tea party, Mr. Brown's endeavors to protect Mrs. Quickly from his children result in him throwing himself on top of her, pulling her to the floor and burying his face in her cleavage. Nevertheless, Mrs. Quickly - ignorant of the children's pranks - is happy with all this provided that she gets a proposal. However, when his proposal is ruined by more pranks, she leaves angrily and refuses to see him again. After the truth of their father's situation is explained to the children, they agree to the marriage, and appease Mrs. Quickly by confessing they were to blame for the disturbance of her visit, and lure her with promises of Aunt Adelaide's wealth.

On the day of the wedding, the children discover that Mrs. Quickly is as conniving and cruel as they had feared when she breaks Aggie's rattle - a memento of their late mother. When everyone is gathered for the wedding, Simon despairs that there is nothing more they can do to stop this marriage. Nanny McPhee advises Simon the best thing is to do "exactly as you are told." Baby Aggie begins repeating "beehive" to Simon, and realizes the baby is telling him what to do. Following Nanny McPhee's advice to do as he is told, he and the other children disrupt the ceremony by pretending a swarm of bees has been attracted to Quickly's flowered hat. Things rapidly descend into chaos; the priest is deathly allergic to bees and panics, and this soon leads to a riotous food fight. Cedric realizes that both he and his children truly dislike his wife-to-be, and joins in the disruption of the ceremony. Mrs. Quickly asks Cedric point blank if he can actually see any bees, and he says that yes, he can, then swats an imaginary bee from her hat so forcefully, she falls to the ground. Angered, Mrs. Quickly puts an end to the wedding and storms off.

Just as it seems that Adelaide's marriage deadline has passed without result, Simon realizes that his father could still marry Evangeline, to whom he has demonstrated something of an attraction, and vice versa. Although both Cedric and Evangeline attempt to deny it, due to the inevitable breaking of class boundaries such a marriage would cause, they finally admit their love for each other.

Nanny McPhee taps her magic staff one last time, and provides a perfect backdrop for Cedric's marriage to Evangeline by creating a beautiful snowstorm, covering over the ruined mess of the ceremony site, and fulfilling Mrs. Blatherwick's declarations that "it'll be snowing in August before this family is straightened out!" She also magically transforms Evangeline's dress into a glorious, white wedding gown, seemingly woven from the falling snowflakes. Aunt Adelaide's demand is satisfied, and all of the family's problems are solved. Even Aggie's rattle is restored.

Now that the children have learned all of Nanny McPhee's lessons, she has been transformed from the heavyset hag they first met into an attractive young woman. As the wedding ceremony commences, Nanny McPhee is seen in the final frames, her silhouette walking into the horizon, with her voiceover reiterating her earlier declaration that "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."