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Sequins (2005)
Rated: 12A
Runtime: 88 mins
Theatrical Release: 20-05-2005
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Claire Moutiers (Lola Naymark) has managed quite well since moving off her parents' farm and into a quaint studio in Angouleme. Her supermarket cashier's job pays the bills, but more importantly, it promises Claire enough spare time to design the intricately beautiful... Seventeen-year-old Claire Moutiers (Lola Naymark) has managed quite well since moving off her parents' farm and into a quaint studio in Angouleme. Her supermarket cashier's job pays the bills, but more importantly, it promises Claire enough spare time to design the intricately beautiful embroideries that are her passion. Claire's parents see little of their daughter, but they know she's OK. The "mysteriously vanishing" heads of cabbage that Claire regularly swipes from the family farm provide proof. She trades the cabbage for rabbit hides, which she integrates into her latest designs. But Claire's new life in her studio, her job at the supermarket, and the development of her art, are all jeopardized by a secret she's been concealing from her family, friends and gossipy co-workers: she's pregnant. Claire decides it's time to tell her best friend Lucile. She writes to her about how alone she's felt since Lucile left for Lyons, about the sanctity of her embroidery and about her wish to vanish for a month to give birth anonymously. It's a huge step for Claire, but not nearly as risky as sharing the news with her parents or boss. At five-and-a-half months, the anonymous birth she'd been hoping for is closer to becoming the talk-of-the town that she's dreaded. That is until Lucile writes back with news of her own. She is returning to Angouleme for a few days to visit her brother Guillaume, who is recovering from a motorcycle accident. Claire does not know that the accident that injured Guillaume is the same one that killed the son of Madame Melikian, a distinguished embroiderer living in Angouleme. It is Lucile's mother who tells Claire that the artist has responded to her son's death by burying herself in work. Madame Melikian (Ariane Ascaride) designs luxurious embroideries for the haute couturiers of Paris. She may be struggling with the loss of her son, but she has work to do and agrees to hire Claire to assist her on a trial basis. Madame Melikian is quick to discover Claire is pregnant, but an unspoken understanding between the two artists safeguards Claire's secret. Claire has found herself a dream job, and working at the master's country house grants her refuge from the gossip of the town. Day by day, stitch by stitch, as Claire's belly grows rounder, the threads of their embroidery create a filial bond between them. In time, the grief stricken mentor and her anxious apprentice will stop protecting themselves and start helping one another. -- © New Yorker Films [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Lola Neymark, Ariane Ascaride, Marie Felix, Thomas Laroppe, Arthur Quehen
Reviews
At the film's heart is an acutely observed and sensitively played relationship between two people very much in need of one another.
Those who stick with it will be rewarded with a lovely story about people picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.
There's barely a laugh or a smile in the entire film and, after a while, there's just so much quietly desperate angst and anomie a viewer can take.
Feels like one idea stretched into a modest, colorful display. But what a sweet display it is.
Becomes a quiet tribute to friendship, and to the way that something torn can be made perfect again.
At its best, the film is as delicate and lovely as the gorgeous sequin-embroidered designs the women spin on spider webs of diaphanous materials.
...Éléonore Faucher's film is a timeless, multi-layered affair of artistry, apprenticeship, friendship and love
Touched with eerie dream sequences, the film casts a strange spell that's enhanced by the rhythmic, almost sensual depiction of the painstaking art of embroidery.
Éléonore Faucher's quietly assured debut is a lovely, almost painfully intimate story of female bonding that never panders to its characters or its audience.
Eleonore Faucher, first-time director (and co-writer) of the French charmer Sequins, is well aware of Neymark's allure and sees to it that the young woman is seldom out of the frame.
In this decorous trifle from France, the director Éléonore Faucher builds her story with studied deliberation and piece by precious piece.
Faucher's filmmaking is exquisite, Naymark's acting is luminous, and superb use of music lends a crowning touch.
Sequins hinges on its performances and newcomer Naymark is a marvel of quiet intelligence, endowing Claire with a complex mix of virginal purity and hormonal rage.
Brodeuses shows us rookie director Faucher's complete control over her material. A small gem of a film high on atmosphere and with two pitch-perfect performances.
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