The Hand 1965

In this stark fable, a powerless Harlequin faces a formidable authority, The Hand. The Harlequin is an artist who makes sculptures, but the Hand commands him to create sculptures of it making a symbolic gesture. He resists, wishing instead to craft ceramic pots for his flowers. The Hand uses threats, manipulation, and trouble to bend him to its will, testing his resolve and pushing him toward compliance.

The Hand traps Harlequin with a sly trick and locks him in a cage, where he is forced to produce the ordered statue. The Hand greets the completed work with medals and laurels, a glittering reward that feels hollow to the artist and only deepens his sadness. Longing for freedom, he resolves to escape. He topples the statue, punches a hole in the cage, and bursts into flight as the Hand gives chase. As he runs, he discards the medals and laurels, shedding the symbols of a triumph that never truly belonged to him.

Back at home, Harlequin barricades himself in a closet, hoping to shield himself from the Hand’s reach. A pot with a flower slips and falls onto him, a quiet, cruel reminder of the life and garden he loves. He dies on the floor, the beloved flowers glimmering in his memory as the last thing he sees. When the Hand eventually enters the house, Harlequin is already gone. The Hand uses the closet as a coffin for Harlequin and conducts a pompous funeral, donning a new glove and delivering a final, chilling gesture that signals a cold triumph and a bleak closing chapter.