User Reviews

Sarah, the young woman at the center of this story, suddenly sees her life go into a tail spin when she finds herself out of a job because of a clumsy accident at the art gallery where she is an intern, hoping for a regular position. When Sarah faints on the stairs, dropping a valuable painting, she lands in a hospital where she is told bluntly, she is about six months pregnant.

How could such a thing happen to a girl that does not even show any signs of pregnancy? Well, it happens in a lot of cases, we even know of a case that parallels this tale about loneliness, stubbornness and ignorance on Sarah's part. When Sarah is informed of the fact, she becomes defiant. She does not want the baby growing inside her womb. Sarah does not even remember who the father could be.

As a result of this new reality, Sarah finds she must leave the student's dorm where she is living. Her only relative is a mother who lives far from where she is staying. Being referred to a home for expecting teenage girls, she reluctantly accepts. At the institution she meets the kind Sonia, the director, who ultimately hopes the girl would change her attitude and recognize the fact she is about to be a mother. Sarah does not want that solution, instead, she decides to give up the baby for adoption, while she tries to move on to a new field in her life.

Meeting Thomas, a student at the university, shows Sarah a world she has not known. The young man cares for her, but he is puzzled by the way she reacts toward him. Sarah does not allow any sort of kindness in her life. Sarah delivers a baby girl, but she refuses to even see the infant. Talking to a girl from the institution seems to have an effect on Sarah, although her resolution to move on, is not altered by the arrival of her daughter.

"La Brindille", conceived and directed by Emmanuelle Millet, was a surprise that showed up recently on a French cable channel. It is a different kind of treatment that deals with the apparent ignorance of Sarah, a young woman on her own, whose maternal feelings are apparently lacking. Sarah's attitude toward life is to deal with what comes her way strictly on her terms. Life has not been kind to this girl who must fend for herself to create her own life without the help of others, however well intentioned they might be.

Christa Theret, plays Sarah with conviction. The young actress reminded this viewer of a young Ludivine Seigneur. Ms. Theret shows spunk as she must do for herself, refusing any compassion from anyone. Ms. Theret shows talent. She has been acting since her teens, showing a range in what she can do in the cinema, from comedy to drama. Johan Libereau plays Thomas. Maud Wyler is seen as the kind Sonia.

In France during the war, the government made it possible for women to give birth anonymously. This was to avoid the shame of giving birth to German babies. Fast forward 60 years later, the law has not changed and expecting women have a 3rd choice between giving birth or abortion.

Sounds far fetched? It's actually true. Half a million children were born 'under x' in France, with no possible way to discover who their real parents were, and no recourse. Half a million mothers had to give their ID cards before giving birth, in case they died.

La Brindille attempts to cover this very difficult and very unique subject. The production values are high. The acting is good. Yet the movie disappoints, because it takes every possible detour in order to make the unwatchable, watchable. Here's why:

• The setting is 2011. By now, and since 1994, the government itself realized its madness and implemented a series of laws to make a dehumanizing process bearable. Psychological follow up, free lodging, invitation to leave a letter to the child in order to explain his/her origins. The main protagonist benefits from all of this in the movie. No reference is made to the hell mothers before 1994 had to go through. It never happened as far as it's concerned. - The main protagonist conveniently doesn't realize she's pregnant until 6 months, and the 3 months we have to watch consist of chilling out with her boyfriend between bouts of (free) education. No reference to emotional stress, etc. It's borderline bizarre. - Every turn where the movie could have taken a turn to the dramatic is avoid in extremis: sure the other girls at the maternity center aren't great, but not exactly bullies. The lady in charge of the center is tough, but fair. The boyfriend is forgiving. The nurse is a bitch but because of ignorance but not willful cruelty, that itself lasts for 15 seconds. That's the luckiest unlucky french girl I've ever seen.

The only 'shocking' scene is the birth and abandonment per say, where the drama levels are raised (slightly). Still, the whole thing is filmed as if it was a documentary on french hospitals, and the maternal instinct are conveniently reduced to clichés, when even mentioned. PSDT has 20 seconds of screen time.

It goes from bad to worse when the mother actually returns to the hospital to see her child (if i'm correct that's technically not even allowed in the real word), and tries to give a 'moral angle' to something that didn't need it.

TL;DR: the move trivialized childbirth, abandonment, backwards laws and cruelty to both mothers and children. It's a lazy approach to a subject that should scream controversy and instead leaves you flat, and leaves you wondering if it wasn't shot to appease political groups.

A gigantic missed opportunity, saved only by its production values and the fact it's the only movie even covering the topic.