AllMovie

This thoughtful French drama centers on a brother and sister, living on the furthest frontier of society's fringe in the title flophouse. Nathalie was once beautiful, but a life of drugs and prostitution has stolen her joie de vivre. Her oily, fast-talking pimp Denis, who has zero respect for women, does little to help her. Nathalie's brother Tof is a petty thief. One day he visits Pierre, a local shopkeeper who through Tof out of his store. Tof repays the favor by publicly humiliating Pierre at gunpoint, causing a far-reaching change in Pierre's life and circumstance.