Skin

This innovative and emotionally resonant debut from Versyp centers on two women fumbling through middle age. Esther is a sporadically employed art teacher, and Rita is her nude model, who struggles to connect with her teen daughter, Nastja, in the wake of her divorce. In loose-lined, expressionistic water colors that break out of typical panel structures, Esther and Rita’s friendship grows—awkwardly but genuinely—though neither is privy to the details of the other’s private life. (Those character moments, such as Rita opening a gift of holy water from her mother, are revealed in interstitial vignettes between the main narrative.) Raised to be humble and cautious, Esther takes a chance on love with Nico, only to become the other woman in his life. Meanwhile, Rita mourns her late mother, who taught her to be “hard” but whose afterlife spirit is gentler. Esther draws and cares for stick insects whose molting serves as a central metaphor (“Shedding skin isn’t without danger”), and she prefers sketching people’s “essences” over realistic still life. Her imagined sketches pop up in the margins, shot through with bright threads of red, such as when Nastja cuts into a Christmas sausage, and slices through her mother’s heart. Clement’s art intertwines seamlessly with the script and highlights the interplay between interiority and the characters’ public-facing selves. It’s a quiet but ultimately moving portrayal of the ways tenderness can triumph over isolation. (Apr.)