52 Films by Women Vol 5. 8. CHANSON DOUCE (Lullaby) (Director: Lucie Borleteau)
Contains spoilers
In movies, there are
just as many good nannies as bad ones. For every Mary Poppins, Mrs Doubtfire or
Nanny McPhee, there is ‘Evil
Nanny’ (from a 2016 TV movie),
Peyton Flanders from The Hand
That Rocks The Cradle, Camilla
from the risible 1990 movie The
Guardian or The Nanny herself as played in the 1965 movie by Bette Davis. These bad nannies
are taken into the trust of their employers and prove to be selfless and
indispensable, only to threaten the lives of the young vulnerable children in
their care. The nanny (governess) in the multiple adaptations of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw sits somewhere between good and bad.
Does Chanson Douce (English title Lullaby), adapted
from Morocco-born author Leïla Slimani’s 2016 Prix Goncourt winning novel
by Jérémie Elkaïm, Maïwenn and the film’s
director Lucie Borleteau (Fidelio:
Alice’s Journey) add anything
to the bad nanny sub-genre? It certainly extends more sympathy to the outsider,
Louise (Karin Viard), who is hired by Paul (Antoine Reinartz) and Myriam (Leila
Bekhti) after the latter decides to return to work as a lawyer after the birth
of their second child. ‘I need to change the conversation,’ Myriam insists, after
Paul protests that she will make as much money at work as she would pay to the
nanny. After a parade of unsuitable nannies - too infirm, too inflexible with
time, one says that to get a child’s attention she would promise them sweets,
then take them to the shop and announce that she had forgot her purse - Myriam
and Paul meet Louise, first shown from the back of her head, a neatly fastened
bob of straight blond hair.
Louise looks so
neat, so competent – reference of having looked after two young boys at the
ready – that she unnerves Myriam with her professional demeanour. ‘Is it my
turn to speak?’ she asks when the interview begins without a question. The
clincher is Myriam’s eldest child, Mila (Assaya De Vila), who sidles up to
Louise during the interview, clutching her cloth doll. Louise immediately
engages with her, putting Mila and her parents at ease.
Louise’s backstory
is that she is a widow, whose only daughter, Stephanie is now twenty-five years
old. Once she starts work, she is a little too keen, turning up extremely
early. Louise wins Paul and Myriam over by tidying up their apartment. However,
she has her own concerns, insisted that Mila finish her yoghurt. To illustrate
this, Louise dabs her finger in the punnet, swipes up the yoghurt and proffers
her finger to Mila to lick it off. Mila then dips her own finger in the yoghurt
punnet herself.
Louise’s other habit
upsets Myriam. She gives the children out of date yoghurt, insisting that it is
still good to enough to eat one or two weeks after its ‘use by’ date. Myriam is
appalled and asks Louise not to do this.
Louise’s rapport
with Mila is undeniable, but she is a little less keen on other child minders,
notably at a playground when an older boy takes one of Myriam’s infant son’s
toys, causing him to cry. Louise takes it from them. ‘They should share,’
insists her minder. Louise doesn’t do sharing and does not allow Mila to share
another child’s snack.
So far, so
unremarkable. Then Louise plays a game of hide and seek with a difference. For
starters, it doesn’t begin as a game. Mila suddenly notices that Louise is
missing. As she searches for her, the baby starts crawling in a vulnerable way.
Mila opens the door of the apartment. We wonder if the baby will escape. In
fact, Louise is under a bed and attentive to them. When Mila closes the front
door and enters the lounge, Louise says plaintively, ‘you didn’t find me.’
Then there is
Louise’s strange gesture of peeing into the baby’s potty and asking Mila to
dispose of it. Mila isn’t so keen to play with her after that.
Louise is very punctual.
She rises at 5:05 every morning – her digital clock looks like it reads ‘SOS’
from a distance. In her neighbourhood, she sees a man defecating in the street
who asks her to mind her own business. Whilst Paul and Myriam are out, Louise
uses their shower. We see her in a bathroom, lounging on a sofa, breast and
lower parts exposed, casually occupying the space as if at home.
Yet Louise has a
rival, Paul’s mother, Sylvie (Noëlle Renaude), who arrives unannounced and
leads the children into play. Louise’s mouth is a downturned croissant as she
watches Sylvie choreograph a mess, allowing the baby to eat without a bib,
talking to Mila under a sheet, showering the front room with tinsel, knowing it
will be her who have to put things right.
All the free time
given to Paul and Myriam doesn’t improve their relationship. Paul gets jealous
when he sees Myriam talk to a magician, who has a disappearing lighter trick.
Myriam insists he was a bore. At a dinner party in which Louise is invited –
and is out of her depth – the couple surprise her by inviting her on holiday
with them.
The dinner party
scene is tense because of Louise’s awkwardness and the economic gulf between
the guests and herself. We think it might come to a head, but the holiday
invitation takes the sting out of the scene, rather like bringing a pan off the
boil.
During the vacation,
Louise reveals her sharp side, not wanting to be taken by Mila into the water.
She explains that she cannot swim. Nevertheless, she allows Paul to introduce
her to it. She clings awkwardly to his waist. As Paul and Myriam walk back from
the beach, with Louise between them, they text to each other. ‘Should we invite
her to dinner?’ ‘What should we talk about?’ ‘Not about swimming.’ We see their
texts on either side of the screen. It is the film’s one flourish.
Standing outside
their chalet window, Louise hears Paul and Myriam make love. She has an idea. If
Paul and Myriam have another child, Louise can work there for longer. She
introduces the idea to Mila, who isn’t interested. One evening, Louise takes
the children out for dinner – wouldn’t that be a treat? Ostensibly this is
because Myriam is home early. Louise leads the children to a café in a rough
part of town and orders one plate of sausage and chips for sharing. They drink
only tap water. She waits until nightfall before concluding the meal, bringing
them home. Paul is still up but Myriam is asleep. All she wanted to do after
work is rest. Louise later finds a pair of Myriam’s briefs with menstrual blood
on them.
Louise is far from
the perfect nanny. When she falls asleep in the park, Mila wanders off.
Securing the baby in his pram, Louise frantically searches for her. She finds Mila
in another part of the park, spoken to by an old woman, who scolds Louise. Cradling
Mila, Louise is surprised to be bitten on the shoulder. But Louise, we
discover, bites back.
Borleteau only
gradually gives us a sense that Louise is severely troubled, notably by the
unopened post that fills her apartment. Paul and Myriam receive a letter from
Inland Revenue asking them to pay Louise’s taxes directly. At home, Louise
soaks her letters in water to get rid of them. Then, as a form of criticism,
Louise leaves the skeleton of a chicken on Myriam’s dining table, completely
without meat, to protest about waste.
There is one nanny
who speaks to Louise. She visits Paul and Myriam’s apartment out of concern.
However, Louise rejects her friendship, not trusting it.
In the Hollywood
version of this movie, the finale would be milked for suspense. The act of
violence that ensues is shocking, leaving us to ponder whether references are
enough.
If the story of the
film was reflected in real life, you’d imagine that self-employed nannies and
the like would be asked to produce psychological evaluations of fitness for
work, rather than just police checks as in the United Kingdom. However, this
would lead to fake or unreliable psychological evaluations or even
psychiatrists being sued for slander. At any rate, there needs to be state
support for the self-employed. Borleteau’s film is an unexpected campaigning
tool.
Reviewed at
French Film Festival, Ciné Lumiere, South Kensington, Thursday 14
November 2019, 18:30 screening
Comments
Post a Comment