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The Girl Without Hands (2017) movie poster

Timeline

The Girl Without Hands (2017) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Release, runtime and language
2017 · 76 min · French
Echo score 74
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Directed by
Sébastien Laudenbach
Starring
Françoise Lebrun, Anaïs Demoustier, Elina Löwensohn, Jérémie Elkaïm, Olivier Broche, Philippe Laudenbach

A desperate miller makes a deal, sacrificing his daughter’s well-being for a chance at wealth. She then discovers she has no hands and must face the darkness that resulted from her father's bargain and his selfish actions. The film is a haunting animated tale exploring themes of desperation, consequence, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.

On this page (5)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Events in order (15)
  3. 3 Timeline questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Every angle
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15 events in order · contains spoilers

The Girl Without Hands Timeline: Events in Chronological Order

Every key event of The Girl Without Hands (2017) in order, scene by scene, with when and where it takes place. Use it to untangle flashbacks, time jumps and parallel storylines, to refresh your memory before the sequel or to find the exact scene you are thinking of.

  1. The Miller's Pact

    A miller encounters the Devil, who entices him with the promise of wealth in exchange for something behind his mill. The miller, eager for riches, agrees to the deal without knowing the consequences it will entail.

  2. Unexpected Wealth

    Upon returning home after his pact, the miller is astonished to find liquid gold flowing through his mill. He soon discovers that his daughter is the source of this wealth, playfully perched in an apple tree, blissfully unaware of the implications.

    Where
    the mill
  3. The Devil's Return

    Years pass with the family living in luxury, but eventually the Devil returns to claim the miller's daughter. He orders her family to confine her to the apple tree when he finds her in pristine condition, leading to her mother’s tragic demise in an attempt to rescue her.

    Where
    the apple tree
  4. A Horrific Demand

    In a rage, the Devil demands that the miller sever his daughter's hands, seeing her as still unclaimable. The young girl submits to this horrific act willingly, showcasing her resilience despite the grim circumstances.

  5. A Bewildering Escape

    After the loss of her hands, the girl cleans her stumps with her tears, remaining unclaimable by the Devil. Eventually, filled with resentment and pain, she flees the mill in search of freedom and hope.

    Where
    the mill
  6. The Enchanted Garden

    As she wanders through the forest, the young girl discovers a beautiful garden full of luscious pears yet finds herself unable to cross the river that separates her from it. The goddess of the river intervenes, guiding her safely to the garden owned by a kind prince.

    Where
    the garden
  7. Blossoming Romance

    Welcomed by the prince and his gardener into their castle, a tender romance emerges between the young girl and the prince. Their love deepens and culminates with the prince gifting her two golden prosthetic hands as a symbol of their bond.

    Where
    the castle
  8. War and Separation

    The peace is shattered when the prince must lead his army into battle, leaving the young girl, now pregnant, under the gardener's care. She faces the challenges of motherhood alone, feeling the weight of her situation.

  9. A Deceitful Note

    After giving birth to a healthy son, the young girl learns that her golden hands are unusable for caring for her child. Meanwhile, the Devil deceives the prince with a false note implying that their child is a monster, setting off a chain of tragic events.

  10. The Gardener's Help

    Outraged by the fabricated order for execution, the gardener helps the young girl and her child escape, providing her with enchanted seeds. They follow the river upstream, where the goddess of the river offers her guidance to an abandoned house.

    Where
    the river
  11. Reclamation and Renewal

    In the abandoned house, the young girl and her child thrive, cultivating life with the magical seeds while she discards her worthless golden hands into the river. This symbolizes a fresh start and the rejection of her past.

    Where
    the abandoned house
  12. The Prince's Return

    The prince returns home from a disastrous war and discovers that the gardener had lied about the execution orders. Upon learning the truth, he sets out to find the young girl and their son, determined to reunite his family.

  13. A Father’s Grief

    The prince learns of the miller's despair, discovering that he had hanged himself after believing his daughter was lost forever. While scavenging through the remnants of the mill, he retrieves the young girl's discarded golden hands.

    Where
    the mill
  14. Confrontation with the Devil

    At last, the prince finds the young girl in her new home. However, their reunion is threatened by the Devil, who appears in the form of a raven and targets their son. A confrontation ensues, revealing the Devil's relentless pursuit.

    Where
    the young girl's home
  15. The Final Battle

    In a climactic moment, the young girl slays the Devil, who has transformed back into a pig. With his defeat, the couple finally regains their freedom, choosing a life of adventure and love together as a family instead of returning to their previous lives.

Last updated: November 16, 2024 at 16:34

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Timeline questions answered

The Girl Without Hands Timeline Explained: Your Questions Answered

When does it happen, and why in that order? The questions people ask about the chronology of The Girl Without Hands (2017): time jumps, flashbacks, cause and effect between scenes and the correct order of events, each answered with spoilers.

Q1

Why did the Devil demand the miller's daughter have her hands cut off?

The Devil demanded the girl's hands because she remained 'unclaimable' despite being confined to the apple tree. Her purity and cleanliness made her unsuitable for the Devil to take, so he ordered her mutilation hoping this would finally make her defiled enough to claim. Even after losing her hands, she maintained her virtue by cleaning her stumps with her tears, remaining uncorrupted.

  • devil
  • hands
  • mutilation
  • purity
  • claim
Q2

Why did the girl willingly submit to having her hands severed?

The girl submitted to having her hands cut off willingly because she had already lost hope after years of captivity on the apple tree and her mother's death trying to rescue her. She had become filled with resentment toward her family for imprisoning her and likely saw the removal of her hands as either an ending to her suffering or a form of taking back control over her own body. Her willingness may also reflect the fairy tale trope of passive endurance through trials.

  • girl
  • hands
  • submission
  • sacrifice
  • resilience
Q3

How did the river goddess help the girl reach the enchanted garden?

The river goddess guided the girl across the river that separated her from the garden of luscious pears. When the girl found herself unable to cross the formidable river despite her desperate desire for the fruit, the goddess intervened and helped her reach the other side safely, leading her to the garden owned by the prince.

  • river goddess
  • garden
  • pears
  • prince
  • guidance
Q4

Why did the girl discard her golden prosthetic hands in the river?

The girl discarded her golden hands because they proved useless for caring for her newborn son. Despite being beautiful enchanted gifts from the prince, they could not perform the practical tasks of motherhood. By discarding them into the river, she symbolically rejected her past reliance on artificial means and embraced her true self, allowing her to thrive authentically in the abandoned house with her child.

  • golden hands
  • baby
  • motherhood
  • rejection
  • freedom
Q5

How was the Devil able to intercept and alter the messages between the prince and his wife?

The Devil, as a supernatural being, had the power to infiltrate the communication between the prince and the young girl during wartime. He deceitfully replaced the gardener's joyful news about the birth of their healthy son with a note claiming she had birthed a monster. Later, when the prince replied with unwavering support for his wife and child, the Devil transformed this message into an execution order, using deception to orchestrate tragedy.

  • devil
  • messages
  • deception
  • prince
  • execution
Q6

Why did the miller hang himself after his daughter left?

The miller hanged himself from despair and guilt over what he had done to his daughter. After trading her to the Devil for wealth, forcing her imprisonment in the apple tree, and finally consenting to her hands being cut off, he was overwhelmed by the consequences of his selfish bargain. When she eventually fled, he believed he had lost her forever and could not live with his remorse.

  • miller
  • suicide
  • guilt
  • despair
  • father
Q7

How did the girl get new hands at the end of the movie?

The girl gained new hands during the confrontation with the prince. When she picked up an ax believing he had come to harm her, she discovered she could actually hold the weapon, indicating she had regrown real, functional hands. This transformation appears to be either a magical consequence of defeating the Devil or the restoration of her original body after the Devil's hold over her was broken. The golden hands the prince retrieved from the river guided him to her location but were no longer needed.

  • new hands
  • regrowth
  • miracle
  • prince
  • ax
Q8

Why couldn't the Devil claim the girl despite all his efforts?

The Devil could not claim the girl because she maintained her purity and virtue throughout all her suffering. Her tears cleaned the stumps of her severed hands, keeping her physically pure. Her resilience, goodness, and refusal to be corrupted by hatred or despair made her spiritually untouchable to the Devil. Only by defeating him completely could she finally break his claim over her life.

  • devil
  • claim
  • purity
  • virtue
  • soul
Q9

What happened to the girl's mother on the apple tree?

The girl's mother died tragically while trying to rescue her daughter from the apple tree. When the Devil returned and found the girl in pristine condition, he ordered the family to confine her to the tree. The mother attempted to help her escape, but in doing so, she perished on the apple tree, leaving the girl without parental protection and deepening the family's tragic circumstances.

  • mother
  • death
  • apple tree
  • escape
  • family
Q10

Why did the Devil take the form of a pig in the story?

The Devil used a pig form as one of his physical manifestations throughout the story, specifically to torment and pursue the young girl and her family. In the final confrontation, he transformed back into the pig form he had used throughout their ordeal, and it was in this shape that the girl ultimately killed him with the ax, defeating him permanently.

  • devil
  • pig
  • transformation
  • raven
  • battle

Movie threads

More Movies Like The Girl Without Hands, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes The Girl Without Hands tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Grim Fairy Tale Journeys like The Girl Without Hands

Haunting animated tales where characters endure magical trials to reclaim their lives. Discover movies like The Girl Without Hands that are dark, animated retellings of folklore. These films combine stunning visuals with poignant stories of survival, magical adversity, and the enduring strength found in hope, perfect for viewers who appreciate mature fairy tales.

  • folkloric
  • haunting
  • grim
  • hopeful
  • magical
  • endurance
  • Tone: dark, haunting, hopeful
  • Pacing: steady, methodical
Why these movies?

The story pattern: Narratives in this thread often follow a clear, archetypal path: an innocent character is thrust into a cruel, magical world by a grave injustice. They must then navigate a series of arduous, often surreal trials, facing both external evil and internal despair, before achieving a hard-won but deeply fulfilling resolution.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their unique ability to marry the aesthetic beauty of animation with the emotional weight and dark themes of traditional stories. They share a specific mood—simultaneously grim and hopeful—and a focus on character endurance against magical forces.

Stories of Triumph After Trauma like The Girl Without Hands

Stories of profound suffering met with even greater human resilience and hope. If you liked The Girl Without Hands, explore movies about characters overcoming unthinkable hardship. These emotionally heavy stories follow journeys of survival and resilience, where the climax is a deeply earned triumph over adversity, offering a powerful and hopeful viewing experience.

  • resilience
  • trauma
  • hopeful
  • endurance
  • heavy
  • survival
  • Tone: dark, heavy, ultimately hopeful
  • Pacing: steady, deliberate
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern follows a character's life being shattered by a traumatic event, leading to a period of isolation and struggle. The core of the story is their internal and external battle to not just survive, but to heal, adapt, and ultimately forge a new, meaningful existence, often finding strength they never knew they had.

Why they belong together: This thread connects films through their shared emotional arc: a descent into profound hardship followed by a difficult, authentic ascent. They are united by a heavy emotional weight, a dark tone that is ultimately pierced by hope, and a focus on the indomitable nature of the human spirit.

Every angle

The Girl Without Hands (2017) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about The Girl Without Hands in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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