From the Film Maker...

The reds and oranges in the painting inspired me. I used them to represent the internal life of my characters. Red and orange wallpaper decorates the launderette in my film, making it intimate and distinguished. Furthermore, in colour theory, red can stand for anything between rage and love.

Another element was the laundry in the various washers and dryers. Different tones and intensities of reds represent the stages of the development of the story and the relationship between daughter and mother. From cooler pinks in the beginning of the film to the bright red of the baby's jumper in the daughter's hands at the end of the story.

My interpretation of the painting was the tenderness between a mother and daughter. I was interested in the feelings that arise when this core relationship breaks apart and how the two women try to find a way back to each other. In my film the characters attempt to bridge the gap, their longing for intimacy and touch, captured so well by Degas, is written on their faces.

I was inspired by the act of one woman combing another's hair. Perhaps a mother combing her daughter's hair. I used the image in the second scene, where the mother reaches out to touch her daughter, but the girl backs away, misunderstanding the gesture.
Maya Puig