The Miller was so desperately poor, his hunger made him easy prey for the Devil. Appearing as an old wanderer, he offered the man riches in exchange for what was behind his mill. The unhappy man was only thinking of the apple tree, but his daughter happened to be climbing it at the time. Of course, once the Miller had a taste for riches, he was not about to back out of the deal.
Yet, the Devil is constantly stymied by the Girl’s virtue. First, he has the greedy father cut off her hands, because they were touched by her tears of purity. Yep, super soothing bedtime story. When he still cannot take possession of her, he allows her out into the world, so he can prey on her through his deceitful magic.
Single-handedly animated by Laudenbach, Girl Without Hands is stunningly elegant to behold. Stylistically, it could be the closest thing to an original feature animated by Matisse. However, the abstractness of the characters’ features can be a little distancing.
Nevertheless, Laudenbach’s animation is truly a work of art and there is something about it that really expresses the archetypal essence of the Grimm fairy tale. This is about as sophisticated as animation gets. Yet, it also emphasizes the sinister, supernatural flavor of the Brothers Grimm.
Fans of elevated animation really ought to check out Girl Without Hands. In terms of artistry, it compares to films like The Red Turtle and thematically, it shares some kinship with Belladonna of Sadness. Highly recommended, it starts streaming tomorrow (3/11) on Ovid.tv.
