A series of events unfold like a chain reaction, all stemming from a minor event that brings the film's five characters together. Set in Paris, France, Anne is an actress whose boyfriend Georges photographs the war in Kosovo. Georges' brother, Jean, is looking for the entry code to Georges' apartment. These characters' lives interconnect with a Romanian immigrant and a deaf teacher.
Three parallel love stories set in three different cities are set against some of the major international events of the last five years, in this ambitious.
When four distant cousins inherit a 19th-century home in Normandy, they decide to visit and examine their family history. No one has lived there since the 1940s, and the cousins are intrigued by all of the items they find there, little things that help them to understand their ancestor, Adèle Vermillard. Jumping back and forth in time, they meet the mysterious Adèle, whose bohemian lifestyle, and her relationships with the leading artists of the time, changes their lives.
Nina is a young, carefree actress who arrives in Paris searching for her big break. There, she finds drama both on- and offstage as she becomes involved with three men: a mild-mannered real-estate agent who offers her stability, a bad-boy actor who lives dangerously on the edge, and an intense theater director who casts her in a production of “Romeo and Juliet.” As opening night approaches, the emotional extremes of Nina’s love life fuel her art.
Horrified at the prospect of her beloved school being sold, a young French girl named Madeline uses her wit and craftiness to attempt to save it, making an unlikely new friend in the process.
Freddie is starting as a thug for Jazdec the Polish, a pimp and concealer of illicit goods. Freddy's love for Larna, whom he dreams to snatch from prostitution, drive them into jeopardy under the clutches of a Chinese Godfather. To see Larna alive, Freddie must kill the so-called Mr. Zhu, a strange Chinese Zorro who just arrived in Paris to retrieve a young runaway fellow countrywoman.
When a deadly mist engulfs Paris, people find refuge in the upper floors of the buildings. With no information, no electricity and hardly any supplies, Mathieu, Anna and their daughter Sarah try to survive the disaster.
Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams.
A SILENT STORY - An aging refugee clown in Paris masks trauma with silent street performances. Beneath his painted smile lie resilience and displacement’s sorrow, a wordless elegy to those surviving unseen.
Yeva is a young woman who escapes her influential in-laws with her daughter Nareh, after her husband’s tragic death and takes refuge in one of the villages of Karabakh, Armenia… Yeva is a complete stranger in this village and is obliged to live her daily life in disguise.
A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
A young, unfaithful wife and mother is thrown out by her cold, unforgiving husband, the Attorney General of France. She is barred from ever seeing her three year old son again despite her earnest attempts to make amends. For many years the mother seeks refuge overseas and in Absinthe. In the end, her son, a young and promising lawyer unknowingly defends her in court. Ruth Chatterton gives a marvelous performance in this early talkie in her portrayal of Madame X.
A New York housewife flees America and her husband of 30 years to reinvent herself in Paris as Fleur, an upscale escort and dominatrix carving out her own power and identity. But as her past collides with her new life, the question isn’t just whether she’ll return… but whether she can.
Sebastien is a small town boy who moves to Paris and begins to explore the gay night life there. When a friend from back home calls to announce he's coming to Paris, Sebastien confronts some unrequited feelings.
After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.
When a young man is arrested for trafficking drugs, his girlfriend tries to help him out by making some big money as a member of an exclusive group of high-end prostitutes.
From the 17th floor of an office building, Pierre is staring out a colleague that is here for hours.
A portrait of a 58-year-old man battling his inner demons on the search for self-discovery.
The passionate Merchant-Ivory drama tells the story of Francoise Gilot, the only lover of Pablo Picasso who was strong enough to withstand his ferocious cruelty and move on with her life.
The tragic story of a young orphan girl who is befriended by an innocent but emotionally disabled veteran of the French Indochina War.