Miss Mary 1986

In 1938, Englishwoman Mary Mulligan Julie Christie arrives at the lavish estate of a wealthy Argentine family living just outside Buenos Aires. > “Miss Mary” serves as the family’s governess over the course of the next several years. As the primary caretaker of the family’s three children, Mary educates them in English and guides their childhood toward adulthood, balancing nurturing with discipline as they move from childhood into adolescence and begin to explore their place in society.

Meanwhile, the aristocratic world around them is fraying. The adults discuss Argentine politics, hinting at the looming arrival of Juan Perón and the sweeping changes his rise will bring to their privileged circle. The family’s internal tension sharpens when the patriarch, Alfredo Eduardo Pavlovsky, begins an affair with another woman. Enraged, his wife, Mecha Nacha Guevara, fires a pistol blindly into the parlor where the affair unfolds; though no one is injured, the moment unsettles the children and unsettles the household. Mecha gradually deteriorates emotionally, retreating from the family with a growing stoicism that colors every interaction.

A few years down the road, Teresa Barbara Bunge, the youngest daughter, proudly tells her older sister Carolina Sofía Viruboff that she has lost her virginity. Johnny Juan Palomino, their older brother, then has a sexual encounter with a woman far older than him. Confused by the experience, he rushes home through a thunderstorm and confronts Mary in her bedroom. After a brief moment of awkwardness, they embrace and share a night together, a relationship that blends maternal care with a more intimate, ambiguous bond. When Johnny slides back to his room in the early hours, his mother, Mecha, learns of the encounter and relays the news to her husband, before Mary begins packing to leave the family.

Later, Teresa readies herself for a wedding, though she harbors doubts about going through with it. Motivated by loyalty to her sister and a disdain for the hollow world she inhabits, Carolina vows to boycott the ceremony. Mary attends the wedding and quietly acts as a catalyst, slipping Johnny a note as he walks down the aisle in the procession of the bride’s family. Soon after, Mary speaks with Johnny and reveals that she intends to return to England now that World War II has ended. She boards a cruise liner and departs, leaving the estate and the family to navigate a future shaped by changing times and personal choices.