Perfect Nanny

Perfect Nanny (Chanson douce, 2019) is a French psychological thriller directed by Lucie Borleteau — watch it online on iFILM. Paris. A young couple needs a nanny: Myriam is returning to her law firm job, the kids need care, the search is exhausting. Louise arrives with perfect references — calm, efficient, French, experienced. They hire her the same week.

Louise settles in faster than anyone expected. She knows the children's routines before the parents do. She is always available, never difficult, takes up less space than a houseguest and somehow more space than anyone noticed. Karin Viard plays Louise with a stillness that functions as its own kind of threat — you read nothing behind the eyes, and that blankness is the film's primary source of dread. Leïla Bekhti plays Myriam with the specific exhaustion of a woman re-entering professional life and realizing someone else has become indispensable at home.

The screenplay adapts Leïla Slimani's novel of the same title, which took the Prix Goncourt in 2016. Borleteau opens the film with the ending and then makes you watch how the house got to that point — quietly, in small increments, through ordinary decisions. Stream Perfect Nanny (2019) online on iFILM.