Original-Cin Q&A: How Director Laetitia Colombani’s Novel The Braid Returned Her to the Screen

By Kim Hughes

There is something quite special about The Braid.

Set in India, Italy, and Canada, the new drama tells the story of three disparate women living in wildly different circumstances who end up being tangentially connected in a most unusual way. From director and screenwriter Laetitia Colombani, The Braid is based on Colombani’s best-selling 2017 novel of the same name.

That Colombani had already established herself as a successful filmmaker before deciding to write the book — her credits include the critically acclaimed He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not from 2002 starring Audrey Tautou — speaks to her considerable talent.

Add in the sheer logistics of making of the film, which was shot on location using only natural light in Hindi, Italian and English with a French director and director of photography, Quebec’s Ronald Plante, speaks both to Colombani’s vision and her ability to wrangle a very diverse group.

For example, on the set in India, Colombani used translators. But before shooting in Italy, she spent six months studying the language “not to speak it but to be able to understand. And in Canada it was English and French. We heard a lot of different languages on the set,” she laughs, “but everyone understood each other.”

What may be most special about The Braid, which Colombani adapted alongside co-screenwriter Sarah Kaminsky, is what’s on screen: a tender story of three women fighting for agency over rigid class status (India), restrictive cultural tradition (Italy), and devastating illness (Canada).

Director Laetitia Colombani

Though the film is a smidge overwrought in its final act, it nevertheless tells the women’s stories, which are interspersed, with genuine heart. Plus, it looks positively sumptuous and is propelled by a spare but poignant piano-led score Philip Glass could get behind.

Ahead of The Braid’s January 19 opening in select cities (scroll down for a complete list), we sat down with the convivial Paris-based Colombani in Toronto to discuss the rigors of shooting and how the filmmaker will measure her movie’s success.

ORIGINAL-CIN: This film had many unique challenges: shooting in multiple locations and in multiple languages to name just two. What was the hardest thing to get right?

LAETITIA COLOMBANI: The continuity. I was shooting three movies in three places with different international crews. It was so specific and lasted for six months: two months each in India, Italy, and Canada. So, shooting a scene in India, I had to remember that the next scene would be shot somewhere else four months from now. I felt like I was shooting three movies, yet it was one story I was trying to tell.

O-C: You say in your director’s statement that you wanted each segment to be visually distinct: “the Indian story will appear in warm colour temperatures, shades of brown, yellow and ochre, while the Sicilian one will be bathed in midsummer's light, the Mediterranean sun. Unlike the other two, the Canadian part will be mainly shot indoors, in cold colour temperatures.” How much did you have to stage-manage that aspect, or did it occur naturally given the locations?

LC: Both. Before we shot, myself and my director of photography talked a lot about how every part should look on the screen. We decided to work with natural lights and natural sets. There is nothing shot in studio. I wanted everything on the screen to look real.

In my mind writing the novel, I associated each character with something: Smita in India with earth and mud, Giulia in Italy with water and Sarah in Montreal with glass. I wanted that on the screen. The first part we shot in India, which was very interesting visually. We had in mind that the subsequent parts must also be as visually interesting. Plus, we used local crews for costumes and set design to be as realistic as possible.

O-C: Push comes to shove, did you relate more closely with one character over the others?

LC: No. Because when I started to write the novel, I asked myself what the link would be between me and each character. Each were created with part of me. I feel close to Smita, for example, because she is a mother. My daughter was the same age as the character of [Smita’s daughter] Lalita in the novel. Giulia was a very different part of me but when I was a teenager, I lived for books. My mother worked in a library. I was curious about the world and wanted to travel because of my reading. With Sarah, she is a working mother with a career, and like many women, she is constantly torn between her professional and private lives. I understand her in a very intimate way. These characters became like my sisters.

O-C: You wrote the book the film is based on, which presumably required you to think in terms of words rather than images. Did that make the adaptation process more difficult?

LC: No, because I was a director and screenwriter before becoming a novelist, I was already accustomed to thinking visually. I studied in France as a cinematographer. I am very influenced by that as a novelist. I think of the colours, the settings, and it was very natural for me to adapt the novel for the screen. I could see the movie before I wrote the novel even though making a movie wasn’t part of the plan before writing it.

O-C: What will success look like for you with this movie?

LC: Having audiences respond strongly to the movie, which they have. The word of mouth was incredible, which meant people loved the movie and wanted to share it. So many people have told me they watched it twice, which makes me very happy as a director. Also, success is when people tell me they were very moved but at the same time, felt a lot of energy. And hope. I wanted to make a movie that was faithful to the book, which tells about the difficulties of fighting for freedom and equality. But also, a movie that offered an optimistic view for the future.

The Braid. Directed by Laetitia Colombani. Starring Kim Raver, Fotinì Peluso, and Mia Maelzer. In theatres January 19 in Toronto (Imagine Cinemas Carlton, Scotiabank Theatre), Ottawa (ByTowne Cinema), Calgary (Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market) and Saskatoon (Magic Lantern Roxy Theatre); January 26 in Kingston (The Screening Room), February 2 in Vancouver (VIFF Vancity Theatre) and February 9 in Waterloo (Princess Cinemas).