Zelly and Me

This movie has been a favorite of mine for a long time, but I don't know anybody else who likes it. What appeals to me is that the story is so simple but still so deep.

It is one of the biggest drama I have ever seen, but still, nobody dies, no ship goes down and so on. The drama is just the feelings of a little girl and a grandmother who "loves" her too much.

The film is very well acted (even Lynch is good) and the script is superb. There is an interesting reference in the film to Joan of Arc (the girl sees her self as Joan). In fact, the movie could easily bee seen as a Joan of Arc film.

Small movies can sometimes yield large pleasures, but to appreciate this modest, independently produced drama you'll have to first forgive a lot of its shortcomings. The film is more well-meant than well-made, following the battle of wills between a dictatorial grandmother and a benevolent French governess over the welfare of a precocious, orphaned poor-little-rich-girl. But it's an unfair competition from the start: Grandma Coco can only express her affection for young Phoebe through jealous tantrums and cruel discipline, while governess Zelly (short for Mademoiselle) is all compassion and tenderness (and very little else).

The film is a peculiar mixture of lukewarm nostalgia and cold, upper-crust alienation, showing more forbearance than might otherwise be expected from a story about child abuse. But the meager budget isn't enough to convincingly recreate the (somewhat arbitrary) 1958 setting, effectively isolating the action in a dramatic vacuum. A little more background detail might have made it more involving.

Look for cult director David Lynch in a small role, alongside his then girlfriend Isabella Rossellini.

This film is simply written & performed, I remember this when I was a kid, I truly felt the characters feelings play out on screen.

It's 1958 Virginia. Phoebe is a young orphan with a Joan d'Arc obsession. She lives with her wealthy grandmother Co-Co (Glynis Johns), nanny Zelly (Isabella Rossellini), maid Nora, and Earl the gardener. Willie (David Lynch) inherited the large gated mansion nearby. Co-Co is raising Phoebe with coercive methods. Zelly is horrified by her training like a dog and Co-Co's intention to break her of her willfulness.

I can't believe that this is what Rossellini and Lynch did together after Blue Velvet. I did wonder what if Lynch did the directing. At least, he likes writer/director Tina Rathborne enough to have her direct a couple of Twin Peaks episodes later. She seems to have faded from the scene after that. With this movie, she struggles to set up this world at first. It has to do with the grandmotherly Glynis Johns. Until the first incident, I didn't realize that she is a strict disciplinarian. That needs to be more absolute and the home needs to be more oppressive from the very beginning. I do feel for the little girl's struggles and her head-spinning turns. She doesn't know whether she's coming or going. It's the last part where this movie excels. I do wish for a final wedding scene. I was waiting for an elderly Rossellini to walk in and close out the film.

The director did understood the work of heart. She brought both good and bad sides of human beings to the screen and show us how to live strongly in this world. Isbella Rossellini did her great job of being the best nanny ever. She made us believe in love and mercy that we almost think they were lost on the way to the modern world. I also fell in love with the girl in the story. She reminded me of the day when I was young.