Tully, released on the 4th of May 2018, is a movie directed by Jason Reitman about a woman suffering from postpartum depression. Marlo, the mother of two, soon to be a mother of three, suffers from the pressure of balancing work life with family time. As time progresses, she spirals further into depression as the workload gets better.
She turns into a night nanny. Her brother Craig recommended helping her manage the kids she previously rejected to hire. The two start to form a deep bond. Tully reminds Marlo of her past self, and she longs to be carefree like before. It causes a few complications. Coming to an end, a plot twist leads to a surprising ending!
Ending Explained
After the accident Marlo encounters, she wakes up at the hospital, where Tully visits to say goodbye. Tully tells her how it’s important that Marlo learn how to handle herself and balance family life. She should let go of the past and focus on the current situation she has, a beautiful family, and a loving husband. She tells Marlo that she’ll be fine by herself and that Tully’s job is done. Outside the ward, Marlo’s psychiatrist tells Drew that his wife’s accident was due to an extreme case of exhaustion and sleep deprivation.
As Drew fills out paperwork for insurance, he notices that Tully is Marlo’s maiden surname. As he pieces together everything, he realizes that Tully was a figment of Marlo’s imagination, a character of her former 26-year-old self Marlo had created to ease her pain from the stress. He realized that it might have been the postpartum depression that resurfaced after the birth of their third child, Mia, that drove her to create characters for her self-sanity.
Marlo, inside the ward, confirms that Tully is nothing more than the imaginative creation of her younger self. She comes to terms with the fact that she needs to stop holding on to the past so strongly, assures Tully that she would do alright, and wishes her a final goodbye. And so, Marlo lets go of her fictitious night nanny character, who helped her stay sane (debatable) through her rough patches until that very moment.
What Happens To Drew And Marlo’s Relationship?
As Tully and Marlo bond, Marlo tells her how intimacy with her husband is not very high, and she feels a break in the relationship. Tully convinces her to act out her husband’s fantasy of a threesome in a dinner maid outfit. Drew obliges but is rather confused.
As the ending of the movie dawns, it is revealed that Tully was a figment of imagination, and Marlo seduced her husband and rekindled the intimacy, thus saving the marriage. When Drew realizes this, he apologizes for being a rather absent spouse and promises to do better for his wife.
The Cast
Tully stars Charlize Theron as Marlo Moreau, Ron Livingston as Drew Moreau, Mackenzie Davis as Tully, Mark Duplass, Asher Miles Fallica, Lia Frankland, and Gameela Wright.
Ratings And Where To Watch
Tully received an average of 7.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $9.3 million in USA and Canada, and worldwide it grossed a total of $15.6 million. I would recommend giving the movie a watch as it highlights the severity of postpartum depression can have.
Tully is available to stream on Netflix as of now.
