''No Man's Land'' is a 1985 film directed, written and co-produced by
Alain Tanner, about
smuggling on the French-Swiss border.
Plot
Jean (Jean-Philippe Écoffey), a young Swiss whose watchmaking skills no longer prove useful in the real world, dawdles his time away either in his parents' farm or in Lucie's restaurant-bar. He sleeps with Lucie (Marie-Luce Felber) but doesn't love her, as he becomes smitten with an insecure Algerian woman (Betty Berr) who travels between France and Switzerland daily for work. Meanwhile, Paul (
Hugues Quester
Hugues Quester (born 5 August 1948) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1969. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1983 film '' City of Pirates''.
Selected filmography
* ''Mr. Freedom'' (1969)
* ''La rose d ...
), a mechanic in his father's automobile shop with dreams of immigrating to Canada, periodically smuggles items across the border to make money, and gets Jean to help him out on occasions. Gradually, the police begin to frequent the nightclub run by Paul's lover Madeleine () to inquire about his whereabouts. Paul gets an offer to smuggle a large amount of gold, and knowing the police are hot on his trail, decides to take the risk "for the last time" along with a hesitant Jean.
Review
Vincent Caby of the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that the film is "completely humorless and cold, memorable only for their picturesque landscapes and cloud formations."
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for the
Golden Lion at the 1985
42nd Venice International Film Festival.
References
External links
*
Swiss drama films
1980s French-language films
French-language Swiss films
1980s French films
{{Switzerland-film-stub