Eustache, a young cloth merchant's clerk preparing to marry Javotte, his boss's daughter, has his fortune told by a strange magician: "You will die greater than you have lived!" he tells him. The prophecy seems wonderful. "But you will die hanged!" he continues. Frightened, Eustache is willing to do anything to escape his fate and agrees to pledge his right hand, renamed the "Hand of Glory," to the magician...
Production
Gritty period atmosphere on clearly tiny budget.
Acting
Pierre Maxence's escalating panic sells the absurd premise.
Director
Michel Subiela
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Hand of Glory' is actual European folklore — a pickled hand of a hanged man used as a candle for burglary and dark magic, dating back to 18th century criminal legends.
Director Michel Subiela spent his career in French television, making this one of his few forays into the fantastique — the distinctly French genre blending supernatural dread with philosophical unease.
FR
