DIE INDIANER SIND NOCH FERN
THE INDIANS ARE STILL FAR AWAY
Switzerland / France, 1977, 98 Minutes
Written and directed by Patricia Moraz
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Christine Pascal, Mathieu Carrière, Nicole Garcia, Anton Diffring
17-year-old school girl Jenny Kern lies dead in the snow. Accident? Suicide? The official report reads death from “exhaustion and cold.”
The last days in the life of the high-school student: A run of the mill week with a few events and encounters, stories and prophecies. And a few memories, embellished by friends now approaching their thirties.
LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOIN plays out in a wintry Switzerland. In a country of moderately rich and poor, where mediocrity abides in relationships to people and things.
Press commentary 1977

medium:
…a discovery, a breakthrough: Isabelle Huppert. The 22-year-old actress comes from a small village near Paris; after studying as an actress she worked her way up in theatre and film: a remarkably normal career. We saw her twice in Cannes: in Claude Gorettas infinitely sad love story LA DENTÈLLIERE and LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOIN, the spellbinding debut from the young Swiss-French director Patricia Moraz.
…under Patricia Moraz’ direction, she ultimately lies dead in the snow, possibly a suicide, but in any case with the impossibility to go on living. This isn’t just a individual tragedy. It seems as if this figure is sending a signal for a generation that is growing up in repressive circumstances that no longer finds that words suffice and thus take matters into their own hands.
Daily Gazette:
… These aren’t films “about” existential fear as much as they stem directly from it, that is to say, they express it, are part of the problem, films on the brink of silence and self-abandonment. The leading lady in Patricia Moraz’ film, Jenny, looks for a snow-covered death because she sees no way of fulfilling her ideals, of knowing the absolute.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
…LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOIN, a film from Swiss-French Patricia Moraz. She realised how to portray Lausanne as beautifully, cleanly, exactly and precisely as a swiss clock, that the horror that drove Hemingway to his sarcastic narrative of this city is tangible, the very same which likely contributed to Godards’ uncompromising rejection of the bourgeoisie.
…It conveys in its silent perfection (Camera: Renato Berta) the melancholy, coldness, anaemia, frustration; the hallmarks of a young and often brilliantly made Swiss film. Its impact continues to be felt because it seems to perfectly encapsulate how it feels to be a part of this European generation.
Digitization and restoration planned for 2020.
Cast & Crew
- Isabelle Huppert Jenny Kern
- Christine Pascal Lise
- Mathieu Carrière Matthias
- Chilpéric de Boiscuillé Guillaume
- Nicole Garcia Anna
- Anton Diffring Deutschlehrerin
- Jacques Addou Concierge
- Bernard Arczinsky Charles Dé
- Connie Grimsdale Großmutter
- Marina Bücher Marianne
- Emmanuelle Ramu Pascale
- Guillaume Rossier Junge
- Catherine Cuénod Sportlehrerin
- Claudia Togni Kellnerin
- René Hertier Junge vom Buffet
- Drehbuch & Regie Patricia Moraz
- Kamera Renato Berta
- Ton Antoine Bonfanti / Luc Yersin
- Musik Patrick Moraz
- Ausstattung Rolf Knutti / Jacques Magnien
- Schnitt Thierry Derocles
- Produktion Les Films 2001 mit Filmkollektiv Zürich
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Isabelle at the gym
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Christine at the gym
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Christine und Isabelleat school
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Isabelle with Grosi
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Isabelle at school
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz |Isabelle in the snow
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz | M. Carrière & Kollege mit Ch. Pascal & I. Huppert
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz | Isabelle in the snow
- M. Carrière mit I. Huppert | LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz | Christine Pascal
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz | Isabelle Huppert | Christine Pascal
- LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977 Moraz | Christine Pascal & Isabelle Huppert | Café
- Patricia Moraz | Pressconference| LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977
- Patricia Moraz | ont the set | LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977
- Patricia Moraz | Renato Berta | Assistent | LES INDIENS SONT ENCORE LOINS 1977
Obituary to Paticia Moraz (German)