E90 Door Locks

[Citroënbender]

Trying to understand what’s going on with a car. Googling doesn’t make much sense yet and I don’t have the time presently to pull it apart and learn from dismantling.

Does the driver’s door handle and key barrel actually have physical (mechanical) connection to the lock mechanism? So if there’s a flat battery you can use the cut blade to open the door? At the moment, that’s not happening.