Worth: $18.00
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Cast:
Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Spector, Rose Dekker, Leslie Uggams, Sinqua Wallis, Jaheel Kamara, Olamide Candide-Johnson, Niahlah Hope
Intro:
… the raw force of Jusu’s debut is undeniable …
Nikyatu Jusu’s Sundance Award winning debut feature Nanny might at first appear to be a horror film; it is saturated with images of snakes, spiders, uncanny mirrors, and the mysterious Mami Wata – a mermaid like creature of West African folklore. However, the horror soon reveals itself to be how undocumented immigrants are treated in America, even by those who spout liberalism.
Aisha (brilliantly portrayed by Senegalese-American actor, Anna Diop) gets a job as a nanny for a rich white couple, Amy (Michelle Monaghan) and Adam (Morgan Spector). Her duties originally begin with caring for their daughter, Rose (Rose Dekker), but as the film progresses Amy begins to take callous advantage of Aisha, eventually having her work as an unpaid cleaner in their fancy NYC apartment.
Aisha has taken the work so that she can afford to buy a ticket to America for her young son Lamine (Jaheel Kamara), hopefully in time to celebrate his seventh birthday. As Rose almost instantly bonds with Aisha, the young woman acutely feels the lack of her son, who she can only speak with over constantly freezing Facetime videos which her cousin Mariatou (Olamide Candide-Johnson) controls.
Aisha is a woman used to being controlled to some extent; whether it was by the married man who impregnated her as a teenager and then left her, or her Senegalese family who have all but abandoned her. She is also a survivor (a word she teaches Rose in French) and has a teaching degree from a Senegal university and speaks three languages fluently. Yet, in America, she is supposed to be grateful for the small crumbs bestowed upon her by the exploitative employers.
Aisha begins to get visions, some come in the form of dreams, others appear to her in the light of day. She is increasingly haunted by water: whether that be a bathtub, a swimming pool, sprinklers in a park, a spreading black mould, or Mami Wata (Niahlah Hope) appearing to her in the Hudson River. The visions are trying to reveal something to her, but she is so weary from being overworked that she dismisses them as exhaustion.
It isn’t until Aisha’s love interest, Malik (Sinqua Wallis) introduces her to his grandmother Kathleen (Leslie Uggams) – a well-travelled woman who believes in the magic and myths of West Africa and is gifted with ‘the sight’ – who explains that the visions are Anansi the Spider and Mami Wata trying to send her a message, or in fact several, that Aisha begins to understand that supernatural forces really are at play.
Nikyatu Jusu’s script is rich with symbolism; Aisha sees herself reflected backward in a mirror, or dreams of a serpent in her bed (both associated with Mama Wata), but the mythological and metaphorical horrors pale in comparison to Aisha’s lived experience.
Amy becomes increasingly careless about paying Aisha and squabbles about money. She’s jealous of the bond between Rose and her nanny, and soon has reason to suspect that she should be jealous about the time her consistently unfaithful husband spends with Aisha. Both characters espouse white liberal privilege. Adam is some kind of photographer who tourists his way through the struggles of oppressed people. Amy tries to get Aisha onside with her “We’re both women, we struggle with the patriarchy” feminism. While Amy uses Aisha as essentially a slave, Adam believes that he has the right to approach her sexually, and when Aisha quite literally bites back, he threatens her with repercussions should Amy ever find out.
Increasingly, both parents leave Rose and Aisha alone with chaotic schedules that neither consults the other (or Aisha) about.
The only respite in Aisha’s life comes from her romance with Malik, who is also a single parent. The moments of freedom that she experiences in his company, are expressions of the beauty of Black joy and sensuality (again Mami Wata makes an appearance, but this time as a goddess of sex). Aisha’s beauty is also expressed when she wears Senegalese inspired clothing (stunningly designed by Charlese Antoinette Jones).
In an early scene, Amy dresses Aisha in a tight red dress for a party that she was unaware she was supposed to attend. Amy binds Aisha’s body, ignoring her discomfort. In Aisha’s visions, she is often wearing the borrowed dress.
Cinematographer Rina Yang shoots Nanny with an expert eye for colour palettes. The lighting in Amy’s apartment is varying shades of red, green, and blue. Each shade has a meaning, and production designer Jonathan Guggenheim uses the apartment as a sickly space – one that is infected and is passing on its illness to Aisha and before her, Rose.
Although Nanny’s ending feels a little rushed and the story truncated, the raw force of Jusu’s debut is undeniable. The filmmaker acknowledges how systemic racism has impacted upon Black Americans, but her concern sits with the new Black Americans who are beginning a life in a system that will not accommodate them, no matter their intelligence or talent. Aisha says she misses Senegal to her friend Sallay who responds, “At least here when we slave we see the money.” Aisha’s rejoinder is “Do we?”
Aisha wakes up to a series of realities that are worse than her nightmares and once the messages of the disruptive magical beings are understood, it is up to her to take heed and either survive or drown. Aisha is gifted the possibility of renewal in a sea filled with creatures more dangerous than Mama Wata.
Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny is a psychological horror but at heart a sociological one – in both aspects it unsettles and disturbs. A skilful debut by a director whose intelligence is on full view.
