Sand Merchants

Colour, 35mm
France, 2000, 95 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

The story is set in a district of Paris typical for its drug-dealing, short-lived bars and swift trading. The young people living here think nothing of betraying each other for the sake of drugs. Alain, a bar owner, is part of this microcosm and has so far remained an outside observer with no wish to participate. Until the day comes when the young Marie asks him to help her find the murderers of her brother Antoine. He is supposed to have died in an accident, but Marie is convinced he was murdered and she wants revenge. Alain, at first uncertain, gradually becomes enmeshed in the tangle of relationships from which there is no easy return. The director says of his film: “I didn’t want to make a film about drugs but about what drugs do, that everyone who comes into contact with them will, at a moment’s notice, betray many people and live to the detriment of others. Thus I deliberately present my characters from the outside, manipulated like puppets in their desire for drugs and wealth.”

About the director

Pierre Salvadori is chiefly known for his successful comedies Cible émouvante and Les apprentis. This time he has opted for a completely different genre. Together with co-screenwriter Nicolas Saad, he introduces into the film Les Marchands de sable unusually tragic undertones. Filmography: Menages (short, 1992), Cible émouvante (1993), Les apprentis (1995), Un moment (short, 1996), …comme elle respire (1998), Les marchands de sable.