A factory that drips water like tears while twin periscopes spy on nothing happening at all.
This is a surreal comedy is about a factory set in a barren landscape that dispenses a minute portion of water to stragglers carrying pans as receptacles. Inside, the workers seem to be doing nothing that makes any sense, and they are watched over by a periscope set up by twins who run the factory. An unexplained, plain woman living on the premises is sought after by the whimsical foreman (Maurice Benichou) -- also known as the "gardener" because he has planted flowers in the coal wagons that remain on a maze of train tracks -- the only "stock" owned by the company.
Production
The barren wasteland sets feel genuinely post-apocalyptic on no budget.
Acting
Benichou's gardener — tender, absurd, planting hope in coal wagons.
Director
Jean-Pierre Sentier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during France's early '80s industrial decline, the film satirizes state-managed factories where employment existed without purpose — a specifically Gallic anxiety about meaningless labor.
Director Sentier built the factory set in an actual abandoned industrial zone outside Lyon; the 'water' was dyed milk for visibility, which attracted so many insects they became accidental extras.
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