I saw Tully over the weekend with two women who are mothers, like me. Once upon a time, we all had toddlers at the same playschool, but now our kids are in kindergarten, each in a different school. We were all really looking forward to seeing a movie that dwelled on the experience of motherhood, especially the early baby years. Movies are full of mothers, of course, but they don’t usually spend a long time in the landscape of babyhood, and the unsettling transition between pregnancy and, I don’t know—what do you call not being pregnant? Post-partum? Is it that there is not good word for it, or is that I have a six-month-old baby and my vocabulary is still a little out of focus as my mind continues to process the experience of pregnancy, childbirth, and a whole new person in our family?
The best thing about Tully was the way it caught the mood of this post-partum period. It’s a weird, spongy phase, when you’re soaking up so much of life, and at the same time, completely wrung out. Continue reading “Thoughts on Tully”
Thelma and Alice 