A Common Thread

Recalling the tone and texture of Claude Goretta's 1977 classic The Lacemaker, Eléonore Faucher's debut feature offers a sensitive insight into the art of being a woman. Lola Naymark, a pregnant Angoulême teenager, and Ariane Ascaride, grieving for the loss of her son, seem to have nothing in common. But as they embroider fabric for a Parisian fashion house, they discover shared hopes and fears that surmount their generational differences. The dialogue is sparse, but always to the point. Moreover, the intense silences allow Faucher and cinematographer Pierre Cottereau to concentrate on the intricate handicraft that is as mesmerising as the contrasts between newcomer Naymark's bubbly country girl and the ever-excellent Ascaride's world-weary loner.