From the Film Maker

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun was Marie-Antoinette’s painter. She mainly painted women and little girls. She made this particular painting during the events of the French Revolution. Knowing that, I analysed this painting as ‘the different changes in a woman’s life’. Indeed, the little girl is all in white (innocence, childhood) but her hand is in a very soft and warm bag in which a red thread leads to a red woollen ball. I interpreted these symbols as the blood in a woman’s life, being the link between the baby (umbilical cord), the young girl (menstruation), the teenager (first sexual relationship) and the mother (absence of menstruation). Through various elements, such as the story, the light, some objects or the title, I wanted to illustrate that ambiguity between child and woman, ambiguity embodied by the lipstick that allows the little girl to pretend to be a lady..

Diane Weber-Seban

A piece inspired by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-le-Brun, Mademoiselle Brongniart, 1788