Barnavaux et quelques femmes

In a foreign river delta where mud‑caked crosses mark the graves of the first arrivals, a trio of women—Marie, Pasiphaé and Carmen—disembark from a deceptive voyage that promised a Paris‑like life but delivers only the raw, humid reality of a colonial outpost. The women are thrust into a world of makeshift bamboo houses, relentless heat and men whose authority is both seductive and brutal. Marie, hardened by Parisian street life, refuses to surrender to the fatalism that grips her companions, clinging instead to a fierce resolve that keeps fear at bay.

As the settlement of Port‑Ferry slowly replaces tents with brick walls and tin roofs, Marie earns the nickname “Marie‑faite‑en‑Fer” and, through a mixture of stubborn vitality and an unsettling acceptance of her role, becomes a reluctant figure of power. Her path crosses that of Barnavaux, a charismatic infantryman whose presence hints at both opportunity and further complications, setting the stage for a striking portrait of survival, ambition and the uneasy moral landscape of empire.