Brodeuses (2004) - film review

Claire is 17 years old, works in a supermarket and lives alone, estranged from her parents.  When she discovers she is pregnant, she has no other option than to give the baby up for adoption.  To hide this fact from prying eyes, she asks a reclusive embroiderer Madame Melikian to give her a job in her house.  The latter is still mourning the loss of her son, who died in a motorcycle accident.  As they work together, the two women discover a mutual understanding and friendship, which gradually alters Claire’s feelings towards her pregnancy.

With its beautiful photography and introspective performances, Brodeuses is a captivating work, an impressive first full-length film from Éléonore Faucher.   It is an extraordinarily poignant portrayal of two fragile women who, through their love of the art of embroidery, form a common bond which renews their faith in life.  The striking artistic sense of the camerawork adds a spiritual dimension to the film’s earthy, cold realism.   Lola Naymark and Ariane Ascaride are extraordinary as the film’s central characters.  With the minimum of dialogue, both actresses manage to communicate masses of feeling which says so much about what their characters have suffered and how they view the life they have been given.  For such a modest and simple film, Brodeuses is remarkably effective, filled with meaning and crafted with immense poetry.

© James Travers 2007

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