A Feature film by Raymond Depardon
Produced by Palmeraie et Désert
Release in France : 16/10/1985
A man invites a woman to share his room in a hostel in Djibouti because she seems to have some problems. Gradually he falls in love with her. They embark on a trip to the towns in the desert and, on the way, they learn more about each other. The man never appears on screen, so the camera becomes his point of view.
Source : IMDb
Point of view
For his first fiction feature, Raymond Depardon chooses a radical device to direct the passionate love of a man for a woman: never see him never hear him; he is only present thanks to his voice-over and the camera-glances of this woman. Kind of a shape of a subjective point of view is anchored in the first sequences. Yet, despite a hand-held shot, sound and visual clues strangely disturb this subjective point of view; an unexpected objective internal sound linked to the female character and the questions asked to the voice-over-character remain unanswered. The audience is imperceptibly led to ask itself questions on the status of this voice-over: varying time-scale, « improbable dialogue » between voice-over and voice-in, mere existence of this voice over character... In Empty Quarter, the voice-over becomes a real character telling a story which is both lived and fantasized.
Source : narratologie.revues.org
Pascale Dauman, Raymond Depardon
Raymond Depardon, François Weyergans
