Les Mains vides (2003) - film review

The inhabitants of the small town of Port-Vendres in the Eastern Pyrenees go about their haphazard uneventful lives, like leaves blowing in a cold autumn wind. When the ancient Madame Catherine dies suddenly, a mechanic named Eric takes charge of her burial.  Her absence is scarcely noticed by those around her...

There is a certain existentialist poetry to this sombre portrait of a socially deprived community in the South of France, but the complete absence of any narrative cohesion and meaningful characterisation makes it an excruciating ordeal to sit through.  The lethargic pace and uninspired, often static, photography were presumably intended to lend the film a sense of cinéma vérité realism, whereas in fact these merely emphasise the film’s lack of charm and narrative vacuity.


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