FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
SEQUINS
Teenager Claire has moved out of her parent’s farm and into a studio, working as a cashier in a
supermarket to support herself while she designs beautiful embroidery. Then her life flips over -
she finds out she is pregnant. Being with the father is not an option. Telling her parents is out of
the question.
Throughout the film, she predictably figures out what to do. However, her journey is engaging
and fresh for the viewer. Her feelings of confusion and anxiety are real and portrayed with
nuance and poise by actress Lola Neymark. And Claire’s interaction with Madame Melikian
(Ariane Ascaride), a grieving mother whose son was killed in a motorcycle accident and who
also happens to be a superb embroiderer, is clear-eyed and thankfully devoid of any kind of
clichéd soap opera development. It is understated, but forceful,
like the film itself.
The film’s pace is also an understatement, comfortably slow and intimate. Often there is silence or only reaction shots, which communicate the characters’ feelings
more effectively than actual words. Its many close-ups give Sequins some of its
magically intimate atmosphere, focusing not only on the characters’ faces, but also on the shiny
embroidery Claire and Madame Melikian make, and the slow, meticulous process of producing
such a final product. Their inner worlds are revealed, and Claire’s fascination with her craft is
better understood. All in all, director Eléonore Faucher delivers a deceptively downplayed
story that is, in reality, a compelling one, predictable in its ending but powerful nevertheless. Roxana M. Ramirez
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