''No Man's Land'' is a 1985 film directed, written and co-produced by

Alain Tanner Alain Tanner (6 December 1929 – 11 September 2022) was a Swiss film director. Early years and education Tanner was born in Geneva, and studied economics at the University of Geneva. In 1951, he joined the film club which Claude Goretta had r ...

, about

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

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), 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

at the 1985

42nd Venice International Film Festival The 42nd annual Venice International Film Festival was held on 26 August to 6 September 1985. Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi was the Jury President of the main competition. The Golden Lion winner was '' Vagabond'' directed by Agnès Var ...

References

External links

* Swiss drama films 1980s French-language films French-language Swiss films 1980s French films {{Switzerland-film-stub