Protocole gouvernante by Guillaume Lavenant (review)

Can we really know and trust the caretaker, the nanny, whom we welcome into our intimate domestic sphere and who is supposed to look after our child? Initially, that seems to be one of the main questions that this novel is probing with unrelenting suspense. That same question can haunt again and again. At the beginning, the plot seems to echo Leïla Slimani's Chanson douce (Prix Goncourt 2016). Fortunately, Protocole gouvernante charts new territory, in that relationships are explored beyond the individual level. An initially unidentified narrator instructs the young female nanny on how she must behave and feel: "Partout où vous passerez, vous rencontrerez de telles résistances, de telles suspicions. N'en tenez pas compte. Suivez le protocole"

(27). With utmost discretion, the nanny meticulously executes a protocol authored by a leader of sorts named Strand and influenced by a mysterious "Lewis." They concoct a vision and plan to impose their peculiar worldview. Lewis affirms: "L'erreur, la grande erreur, l'immense erreur […] serait de se croire exclu de cette règle, de penser que […] nous sommes uniques" (26). It is not long before the theme of infiltration springs up to the surface. In its second half, the novel turns its focus from its original setting—that of a stereotypical French domestic space where la petite Elena resides and is looked after by the reserved nanny intent on reading a book she gifted—to a more open and shifting landscape. The impeccably manicured lawns of Elena's neighborhood symbolize a conformist, status-oriented culture where "ceux qui n'échouent pas" (15) share and proudly display their similar tastes. As the novel moves away from a more psychological description of the characters inhabiting such an idyllic, uniform and tranquil neighborhood, the timeless allure of a privileged lifestyle is increasingly called into question. The rhythm then picks up and the novel reads almost like science fiction due to the extraordinary fast-paced action that ensues. In other instances, scenes from an American television series interrupt the novel's plot as a possible mirror reflecting the common themes of dangerous transgressions, flight or escapes, and subtle references to revolution and history. Other questions that simmered begin to erupt. Are we machines too easily inclined to follow orders, accept social norms and readily internalize and assimilate tastes and hierarchies fashioned by our daily media and entertainment consumption? Can we live autonomously and resist the comfort of uniformity? After a catastrophe of any kind in which our vie quotidienne is in any shape or form threatened, how do we individually and collectively respond? These are some of the questions provocatively explored in Protocole gouvernante. I would like to conclude with the cautionary words of the dominant narrator: "[N]e cherchez pas à connaître tout de suite la fin, qui n'en est pas vraiment une, vous le savez, agissez et lisez lentement" (49).