Devil's Rope

Arbres is the story of the Tree and trees. It begins with the Origins and then embarks upon a journey through the world of the tree and the trees of the world. The film reveals the huge differences and slight similarities between the Tree and Man, investigating the fascinating idea that, amongst plants, the tree fulfils the role played by man in the animal kingdom.

We know what labour wreaks on the body, but what less visible imprint does it leave on the unconscious? The nights of twelve dreamers – sometimes recounted in front of the camera, sometimes with a voice-over that accompanies shots of office buildings or urban worksites – reveal how the capitalist system invades the modern-day psyche. Long shots of edifices with smooth surfaces and sheer edges instil a deceptive gentleness. Zombies, corpses, mummies, ghosts, skulls sliced open like an egg and emptied by spoonfuls… The images follow one after the other, no two alike, but the editing organises a gradation towards the vampirism and an insidious passage from night to day, from dreams to real working life.

The intersecting story of four notarial situations in a law office in Haute - Auvergne. Through the story of two negotiated sales, an inventory and an inheritance file, the notary's office becomes the reign of stories of property and money, of intimate conversations and secret exchanges, in short of the human comedy.