La Brindille (2011)
Directed by Emmanuelle Millet

Film Review

For her debut feature, director Emmanuelle Millet bravely examines one of the more controversial and less talked about areas of maternity, that of the woman who is incapable of assuming the responsibility of motherhood and is impelled to give up her child for adoption as soon as it is born.  It is an ambitious undertaking for a first film and whilst its failings, on both the writing and directing fronts, are hard to miss, La Brindille offers a sensitive and authentic account of a young woman (barely out of adolescence) who finds herself in this predicament.  It is all too easy to label such women as egoistical, thoughtless, even irresponsible, but Millet's modest film forces us to revise our prejudices and look more sympathetically on those who would rather give up their offspring than take on the burden of motherhood at too early an age.

The woman in question is played with conviction and surprising maturity by Christa Theret, the promising young talent revealed in Lisa Azuelos's hit comedy LOL (2009) and whose uncanny resemblance to Botticelli's Venus makes her an inspired casting choice.  Theret's charismatic presence allows Millet to construct the most intimate and truthful portrayal of a young woman who is visibly torn between two conflicting desires, her primal maternal instincts and the need to enjoy life to the full, whilst she still can.  Millet makes it easier for us to sympathise with Theret's character by making it clear that she is unaware of her pregnancy until it is too late for her to have a legal abortion.  When she first learns she is pregnant, Sarah is unable to accept the fact and she carries on living her precarious, carefree existence in almost total denial of the fact.  Our instinctive disapproval of the character is assuaged by her childlike innocence; her unwanted pregnancy is not a blessing, but an unfortunate mishap, which she copes with as best she can.  This is, after all, real life, not a fairytale romance.

Theret's solid central performance is complemented by the understated contributions from an impressive supporting ensemble that includes Johan Libéreau, Anne Le Ny and Albert Dupontel, to which we must add another talented newcomer Nina Meurisse (previously revealed in Frédéric Mermoud's 2010 film Complices).    Theret's scenes with Libéreau and Le Ny are particularly absorbing and provide most of the substance for a film which has a tendency to drift in and out of arty abstraction for much of its time.  In between the time-filling longueurs, where you can't help feeling the director has knocked off early and left the camera running unattended, there are some inspired, intensely moving moments.  Unlikely as it may seem, we do come to see things from the heroine's perspective and accept that she has made the right choice, for both herself and the child she in unable to accept as her own.  La Brindille may have its shortcomings but it also has its virtues, not least of which is the insight it sheds on a contentious issue, which it does with the compassion and sobriety the subject merits.

Film Synopsis

Sarah is 19 and has high hopes of forging a successful career as an artist.  Presently, she has a trainee position at a museum in Marseille and couldn't be happier.  Then, one day, she falls ill and discovers, to her surprise. that she is pregnant.  Before she knows it, she has no job, no money, no home, no future.  She ends up debating with herself whether to keep the child or not.  Knowing that she has passed the deadline for a legal abortion, Sarah accepts she has no choice but to go ahead with the birth, but by now she has made up her mind to give the baby up for adoption straight afterwards.  She is too young to be a mother and having to bring up a child at her age would prevent her from pursuing any kind of career.  As her pregnancy continues, Sarah feels increasingly conflicted and starts to wonder if keeping the child isn't such a bad idea. In the end, she must choose between becoming a single mother, with all the hardship that entails, or continuing her free and easy life as an independent young woman.  It will be the toughest decision of her life...