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<\/p>\nThere\u2019s a telling moment around halfway through writer\/director Chlo\u00e9 Cinq-Mars\u2019s\u00a0Peau \u00e0 Peau (Nesting) that cuts to the heart of the film. The main character P\u00e9n\u00e9lope (Rose-Marie Perreault), a new mother who is sleep deprived and overwhelmed caring for her new baby, confesses that her point of view has shifted. Previously when she saw a mother and baby out on the street, she would only really see the latter. Now that she has a newborn of her own, all P\u00e9n\u00e9lope can see is the mother: tired, struggling, and wearing baggy clothes to hide her body.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a moment that hangs over much of Peau \u00e0 Peau, a French-Canadian film that follows P\u00e9n\u00e9lope as she struggles with postpartum. In addition to all of the physical symptoms of being a new mom, she also feels abandoned by her musician boyfriend, Gaspard (Simon Landry-Desy). He\u2019s in the habit of staying out late, smoking pot, and sleeping through the night while she cares for their crying child. Throw in latching struggles and Gaspard\u2019s unsupportive mother, who believes P\u00e9n\u00e9lope should switch to formula so she can get a job, and P\u00e9n\u00e9lope is dealing with a lot.<\/p>\n
Well\u2026things are about to get worse.<\/p>\n
On a late-night walk with baby Lou, P\u00e9n\u00e9lope finds herself in the middle of an armed robbery at the local d\u00e9panneur (convenience store). Cinq-Mars shoots the sequence in a disorienting fashion: P\u00e9n\u00e9lope has left Lou in his baby carriage in another aisle when she\u2019s confronted by an armed assailant in a red hoodie. P\u00e9n\u00e9lope ignores the order to get on the ground, rushing back to collect her baby in her arms before sinking face down to the floor. Only then does she realize that she recognizes the perpetrator: it\u2019s her younger sister, Charlotte (Marie B\u00e9langer).<\/p>\n
The problem is that her sister is dead.<\/p>\n
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The (better and more memorable) French title directly translates to \u201cskin to skin.\u201d Both titles are apt descriptors for the movie, which is as much about P\u00e9n\u00e9lope\u2019s relationship to motherhood as it is about sisterhood. The sight of her sister induces P\u00e9n\u00e9lope to spiral, sending the film into a cascade of lucid dreams, memories, and hallucinations.<\/p>\n
The result is a movie that fits comfortably in the trend of recent female-driven psychological films that could be described as \u201cis she crazy or is it supernatural?\u201d (see also: Knocking<\/a>, Censor<\/a>, etc). Peau \u00e0 Peau\u00a0eventually confirms that it is less preoccupied with the question: Cinq-Mars doesn\u2019t treat P\u00e9n\u00e9lope\u2019s spiral as a mystery to be solved so much as an opportunity to consider how repressed trauma can resurface at times of physical and emotional strife.<\/p>\n The intersection of the past and the present results in some pretty unsettling imagery. A bath turns into a near drowning experience in a lake. P\u00e9n\u00e9lope constantly sees and hears rats squeaking in the walls. And, in one moment that evokes the inciting incident of M. Night\u2019s Apple TV show Servant, P\u00e9n\u00e9lope leaves her crying baby in the car before taking a nap, forgetting all about the child for an unsettling amount of time.<\/p>\n Part of the reason that Peau \u00e0 Peau\u00a0works is because it consistently puts baby Lou in danger. P\u00e9n\u00e9lope regularly leaves the baby behind, or sets it on the floor, or leaves it alone in the bath, as she investigates strange sounds or suspicious figures. She\u2019s not a bad mother, but her exhaustion, her feelings of isolation, and her perception that she\u2019s raising the child alone, have compromised her better judgment. This is why P\u00e9n\u00e9lope\u2019s line about mothers and babies is so resonant: no one sees her struggles. All they see is the adorable baby that isn\u2019t gaining enough weight, the baby that she lets cry, or the baby that she neglects.<\/p>\n The other reason the film works is Perreault\u2019s performance. At times unlikeable, prone to explosive outbursts and fits of emotion, P\u00e9n\u00e9lope feels like a real, harried mother. While the film slowly unfurls layers of backstory about her complicated (near fatal) pregnancy, as well as her tragic past with Charlotte, this is rarely delivered via Cinq-Mars\u2019s sumptuous visuals and Perreault\u2019s face.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a surprisingly physical performance, including one beautiful sequence when P\u00e9n\u00e9lope is briefly allowed to lose herself to dance at a party before Lou\u2019s cries inevitably draw her back to the demands of motherhood.<\/p>\n As P\u00e9n\u00e9lope continues to struggle, the details about what happened with her sister increasingly intersect with (and inform) her current situation before the truth is ultimately revealed. Alas the pay-off is a little too expected and doesn\u2019t feel quite impactful enough; if anything, it merely confirms that the film is more of a character study than a supernatural mystery.<\/p>\n Audiences who invest in P\u00e9n\u00e9lope\u2019s experience, however, will find plenty to like. Peau \u00e0 Peau is an empathetic portrayal of the realities of being a new mother, anchored by Perreault\u2019s emotionally rich lead performance and Cinq-Mars\u2019s dreamy imagery.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Peau-a-Peau4.jpg\")
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