A Common Thread 2004

“Hand-woven designs and luxurious embroidery are the visual basis of this delicately observed French tale of an unlikely friendship between two women of different ages, classes and cultures. Using embroidery as a metaphor for the steady weaving together of two very dissimilar souls, Éléonore Faucher’s debut film has been compared to Girl with a Pearl Earring for the beauty of its lighting and the detailed depth of its photography. Young and pregnant, Claire decides to flee the questioning of her family and friends by taking refuge as an apprentice to Madame Melikian, a strange, lonely woman who owns an embroidery business. Fearful of her advancing pregnancy, doubtful if she even wants a baby, Claire develops a fateful connection with the bereaved Madame, whose son was killed in a motorcycle accident. In the shadows of shawls and fabric hangings, an unspoken bond slowly builds between these two easily unraveled women, one fearful of the future, the other grieving over the past. Pierre Cottereau’s cinematography and François Guillaume’s sound design enhance the film’s understated mood, capturing how fabric gleams in a certain shadow, or how the rhythm of needles echoes through cloth, and of how single stitches can be united with work, camaraderie and love.” — San Francisco International Film Festival  

“Pierre Cottereau’s cinematography captures the fragility of the blossoming relationship in rich warm tones and the soundtrack – a combination of lyrical music, sparse dialogue and the barely audible clicks of needles and glides of thread through gossamer fabric – conjures the dreamlike space apart that the women create through their work… Faucher’s assured first feature brings extraordinary pleasure.” — Kay Armatage, Toronto International Film Festival