PREGNANT PAUSE A small-town girl (Naymark) has a secret, but Laroppe isn't the cause.

French teenager Claire (Naymark) would stand out in any crowd: She's got a corona of curly red hair that defies combs, scarves and elastic bands. Maybe it's the fire-engine red halo that distracts everyone in her small town, including her clueless mother, from seeing the obvious: Beneath layers of baggy clothes, Claire is five months pregnant. Determined to keep her secret until she gives up the baby for adoption, she moves into her own place, quits her job at a supermarket and persuades a local embroiderer, Mme. Melikian (Ascaride), to take her on as an apprentice. Claire has an artistic gift, and an uneasy bond grows between her and her boss, an elegant French-Armenian lady who's just lost her only son in a road accident.

The furtive Claire, who tells no one but an out-of-town doctor of her pregnancy, finds herself estranged from her own body: She has odd, yearning dreams, notices her hair falling out and calls the fetus "it." In the company of a grieving older woman, however, her world is changed. The two women stitch, side by side, and it's surprising how fraught with emotion such simple gestures can be. Sumptuously photographed in golds, greens and deep auburns, this is a strong debut feature that's more about mood and textures than plot. Here's a chance to catch a promising director and an exceptional ingenue before they leap from handmade projects to factory-produced.—Justine Elias