Brodeuses

Although few things happen, there are so many things to observe. This movie takes its time with much love for details. It's very slow and quite calm, like the life in the french province. This film doesn't try to criticize social issues. It doesn't take a clear position but let the spectator find his own view. It shows a very individual side. Claire is so stubborn and proud, but beneath her layers of woolen cardigans, you can catch a glimpse of her sensitive and fearful interior. The sensibility in which the relationship between Claire and Mme Melikian is shown, is touching. Although the story of the young, pregnant girl without a future has been told several times, this one makes an exception and doesn't need the usual clichés As spectator you get the feeling to see very private moments, like a voyeur. A movie like this lets you forget that cinema is a mass media. In its stillness and sensibility it resembles a lot "The Girl with the Pearl Earring". Those who know the French film "M Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran" may remember the little red haired neighbor girl. Well, it has grown up and you can see her as the pregnant Claire. A remarkable little jewel of film. Hopefully some people will discover its beauty.

Here in Argentina this film goes by the title "La trama de la vida" (The weft of life), the french title could be translated in English as "The (women) embroiderers" (nouns in French have gender) Lovely film. Nice music composed by Michael Galasso (sounds like Arvo Pärt). Claire debates herself between giving her child in adoption or keeping it. The film builds up, step by step. Claire works in a supermarket but that's not what she wants to do in life, she wants to be an embroiderer. Being pregnant, being a teenager, living in a provincial town she must "take up arms against a sea of troubles". A brave and loving girl with determination. In this quest she also finds love.

Yesterday night I've see this film and I would do all the best for the director, because I found a film very deep and intense. For the first time after a lot of time I found a film with a history full of love for life and and for a sense of live.

These actors are wonderful and the female protagonist is very very professional.

But, above all I found that the director Éléonore Faucher have done a very good history full of intensity and emotional sentiment.

Life and death in 85 minutes..

Bravo Éléonore

Marco

I first caught this film on French satellite TV about 20 min in. It drew me into its world in a few moments. I watched about half an hour more, and then was called away. Knowing that the particular channel that aired it repeats the same film in different timeslots over a month, I asked my other half to record it for me if they showed it again. "Is it good?" My response was more important than I realised at the time: "I don't know. I need to see it again." Since then I have learned that for me at least, that is the mark of a good film. A film that makes me think, that bears seeing again and again.

Claire,checkout girl at a hypermarket, discovers she is pregnant by a one-night stand (the butcher in the store). Like many young girls her age the world over, she does nothing, perhaps hoping the problem will "go away" or resolve itself, until it's too late to do much more than have the baby. She rejects the man's offer of help or money. "I'm not angry with you," she says, "just go away. I don't want to see you again."

She lives alone in a room in her small rural town; her parents live nearby, but in this film nobody seems to get along with their relations- -not Claire's family, not her wealthier best friend with her own brother (whose parents employ Claire's). Claire fears that her bid for independence will come crashing down, so she tries to follow her heart by seeking a job with Madame Melikian, a professional embroiderer whose son has just died in a crash. Madame M. is locked into her private grief and pain, but seeing Claire's need,takes her under her wing. The film deals with their friendship that blossoms as Claire's mind expands along with her womb. Claire in turn has the chance to bring Madame M. back among the living, helping her to heal the breach with her friend's brother who was also hurt in the crash. The two women end up working together to finish an important project that will weave their lives together inextricably.

The film doesn't resolve every issue, because life isn't like that. The moment you get a handle on one problem, another pops up--if not for you, then for someone you care about. It is beautifully filmed and we feel that however these people's lives play out, the results will be positive. I remember seeing a very young Lola Naymark as Kicup in "Les Nouvelles Tribus". That flaming red hair really is natural...and she is a natural actress who plays the truculent, lonely, frightened adolescent hiding her fear behind a facade of sullenness and "dumb insolence" to perfection. Her opposite, Ariane Ascaride, gives a wonderful performance as an adult who is just as frightened, and just as determined not to let her fears, loneliness and pain show.

The only weak point in this film is the soundtrack. The scratchy violin is just noise, adding nothing but an irritating distraction to the "creativity" scenes. And I hope that the only reason they included the horrendous rock song that accompanies Claire on her scooter is that they didn't have to pay royalties on it. If they did, it was money wasted.

This is the kind of film that gives 'Art House' a good name. Given the title and style it compares favorably with La Dentelliere and that is praise indeed. The story is simplicity itself; a young supermarket worker, Claire Moutiers (Lola Naymark) with a passion for embroidery and a life that is going nowhere becomes pregnant almost in passing. Having no real attachment to the father she has to decide how to deal with the situation. Her first move is to approach a local embroiderer, Madame Melikian (Ariane Ascaride) for a job. M. Melikian has her own problems; her son has recently died in a road accident and by chance, his friend Guillaume (Thomas Laroppe) who survived the tragedy albeit at the expense of a badly scarred face, is the brother of Claire's friend Lucile. Soon after starting her new job Claire finds M Melikian comatose in the wake of a suicide attempt and alerts the authorities. From then on the film becomes a story of friendship, trust, healing and love. I doubt if there is a speech longer than two sentences from beginning to end, instead there are stunningly simple visuals like Clair cutting cabbages (in French 'cabbage' is an endearment as in ma petite chou) or Madame Melikian's hand touching that of Guillaume when Claire brings them face to face. The film builds its effects the way the two leads assemble a tapestry, slowly, painstakingly, one stitch at a time. In a film where every performance is way above average the two leads stand out like twin beacons, one (Naymark) remarkable and one (Ascaride) magnificent. One of the finest films of the last few years.