My Nanny
Posted on October 30th, 2008 in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
When I was a kid, my parents decided that they wanted to hire someone to help my mother with my siblings and me. They looked through the paper (not sure which, probably the Times) and saw a classified ad from a young woman looking for work. She was French, maybe 17, and had come to New York to study dance. My mom and dad hired her, and the woman would become our au pair for the next year.
Eventually, she returned to France. And though she gave up dance, Nathalie Baye has become one of that country’s most accomplished and iconic actresses. (Americans who aren’t into French cinema may know her as Leo DiCaprio’s mom in “Catch Me If You Can.”)
Nathalie’s still a family friend. My mother sees her fairly frequently, and I got the chance to visit with her in New York a couple years ago, when she was in town for a film screening at the Alliance Francaise. And a year or so before that, when I was visiting Paris a lot, I spent some time with Nathalie there. She’s a beautiful, charming and soulful woman, and it’s fun to hear her talk about what I was like at age four.
Occasionally I get the chance to read about Nathalie in the press, as in today’s NYT’s article about France’s changing sexual mores.
The posters were advertising “Cliente,” a popular movie that revolves around clichés about prostitution and gigolos in France. Judith, the client, who is played by Nathalie Baye, one of France’s highest-paid actresses, is not a pathetic, lifted rich woman of a certain age and nothing to do. Rather, she is a hard-charging, 51-year-old television shopping-channel anchor and director who, after her marriage falls apart, wants good sex without strings and is willing to pay handsomely for it.
Strange, a bit, to have your nanny playing a sexually liberated woman paying for sex. But not really, except that it says something about the never-ending process of growing up. I love watching Nathalie as she pushes limits in ways that few American actresses get the chance to. And isn’t this a wonderful thing about life—the way that our ability to appreciate people becomes more expansive as we grow older?
10 Responses
10/30/2008 12:08 pm
Just when I think your life can’t get any more privileged, I find out Nathalie Baye was your nanny! I mean, come on. What chance do the rest of us have?
Also liked this line: “when I was visiting Paris a lot.” Well, since none of your books would’ve taken you to France, I guess this means frequent Euro-travel came from disposable income
10/30/2008 12:30 pm
Mmmm, not disposable income—just income. My girlfriend at the time was living in Paris, so I would buy cheap tickets to visit, which I was able to do since I was writing a book and had flexible hours. A cook at Nobu, she had a one-room flat; we’d buy bread and wine at the market and stay home,or buy crepes from a street vendor. When she worked late, I’d go out alone and have a coffee in a cafe somewhere and write in my journal, or go to American movies with French subtitles so that I could try to learn the language.
Yes, as romantic as it sounds. But not profligate. Though I’m tempted not to discredit your image of my luxurious life!
10/30/2008 1:26 pm
Rich was a very good boyfriend… indeed. He even tried eating haw fish to make me happy.
10/30/2008 1:35 pm
Obrigada. 😉
10/30/2008 1:40 pm
You say “Obrigado”.
10/30/2008 1:41 pm
Still learning….
10/30/2008 5:02 pm
I actually find Paris a total bore…
10/30/2008 5:17 pm
I was intrigued that the French expert on sexual mores quoted in the NYT article explained the poster for the film by saying that the female character “was paying the plumber,” Could that be our friend Joe?
10/31/2008 10:50 am
In my humble experience, French women — while sporting a reputation (at least outside the country) as sexual libertines — are actually about as prudish as an Amish housewife. I suppose they allow themselves an affair every once in a while, under exactly the right circumstances, but it’s not always worth the effort. To be the truthful, the English are more slutty….er, sexually liberal.
10/31/2008 11:26 am
Rich that was a hilarious post, thanks for the laugh