BRODEUSES

Raised on a farm near the industrial town of Angouleme, Claire (Lola Naymark) - a curvy redhead of 16 or 17, works as a cashier, but lives for the free time she can devote to embroidery. After learning she is pregnant, she conceals the news from friends and family - only confiding through letters to her best friend in Lyons.

Eventually, Claire has to hide out altogether, so she takes a rented room and gets a job as an apprentice to Madame Melikian (Ariane Ascaride) - who runs an embroidery business for the haute couturiers of Paris. A strange and lonely woman, Madame Melikian has recently lost her young son in a motorcycle accident - and the work Claire takes on is that once done by him.

Winner of the Grand Critic's prize at Cannes in 2004, A COMMON THREAD is richly ornamented and luxurious. The fragility of the blossoming relationship between the two women, built on unspoken understanding and a mutual respect for their craft, is beautifully rendered. The achingly tender soundtrack - a combination of lyrical music, sparse dialogue and the barely audible clicks of needles and glides of thread through fabric - conjures the dreamlike spaces the women create through their work. Modest in theme, but remarkable in the confidence and maturity of its execution, Faucher's assured first feature brings extraordinary pleasure.

France - 2004 - Drama - 89 mins
In French with English subtitles

Director: Eleonore Faucher
Script: Eleonore Faucher, Gaelle Mace
Cast: Lola Naymark, Arianne Ascaride, Marie Felix, Thomas Laroppe, Arthur Quehen