The Sitter 1991

Nell, a shy and quiet girl, is told that she will babysit a young rich girl at a hotel while the girl’s parents attend a party. Nell feels isolated and clings to unrealistic expectations of love and relationships, drawn from the romance novels she devours. She grows fond of the little girl, Melissa, and she has Melissa call her “mommy,” while giving her a marble she insists is magic. The two venture out together to a toy store, sharing small adventures as Nell’s protective nature softens into a fantasy of motherhood. On the street, they play “pick a card” with a vendor who accuses Melissa of cheating, and Nell fiercely defends her, insisting that her daughter isn’t a cheater.

At the hotel, a dog had previously tried to bite Melissa, prompting Nell to buy a toy plane in an effort to distract the child. The plane zooms into a back room where the dog chases after it, and the dog is heard whimpering, a sound that lingers in Nell’s mind as the evening unfolds.

“mommy”

While Nell is trying on Melissa’s mother’s clothes and jewels in the hotel room, she spots a handsome man across the street, Jeff calls her for a date. Jeff soon becomes a symbol of adult romance she has longed for, and Nell imagines a future where they are married and Melissa is their daughter, alongside two other children. He is intrigued by Nell, but his curiosity falters when she begins to press him about love and commitment, asking if he truly loves her.

The narrative moves toward a tense, dreamlike climax. The trio—Nell, Melissa, and Jeff—converges on the hotel roof, where the boundary between fantasy and reality blurs. Jeff tells Nell not to hurt Melissa, and she reluctantly lets Melissa go, the marble slipping from Melissa’s grasp and dropping to the ground below. Nell chases after it, and within a hazy, dreamlike sequence, she finds herself speaking with Jeff, Melissa, and two other children in an imagined life. He calls her name, “Nell? Nell?” as the scene shifts. The camera then reveals the stark truth: the street below the hotel, and Nell has fallen to her death, a small smile resting on her lips as the world continues around her.