At a crisis center in late 1971, a freshly minted counselor on the late shift takes his first call: a suicidal teenager whose parents won't let her come home for Christmas. The call exposes truths about each that lead to a surprising conclusion.
The relationship between a painter and his lover fractures after the painter finds out she did not acquire a sum of money by selling his paintings, as she had claimed.
Heated tempers, frustrated desires and dashed hopes plague a diverse group of individuals whose lives cross paths in Mexico City. There is the bar-owner's son, Chava, who yearns to emigrate to America. A poor barber, Abel, is madly in love with the gorgeous Alma, who eventually becomes a high-class prostitute. Finally, there is Susanita, the desperate spinster who pursues many love affairs in hopes of finding a husband.
Two stories for the price of one: a video store clerk tries to get acquainted with a waitress; a man beats his pregnant wife, unaware that her brother is a violent racist.
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
A successful young doctor with a beautiful wife, a happy child, and a comfortable house finds his life suddenly changed in ways he never thought possible after being injured in a serious car accident. To the outside eye Lazar Perkov has everything -- indeed his friends and colleagues have even gone so far as to christen him with the nickname "Lucky." But appearances can sometimes be...
When Albert Stockwell comes home from work one day he finds a note from his wife of 15 years, Nancy, saying she has gone to see friends. After waiting several days, Albert realizes that his wife is missing. Nancy has met her salvation on the Internet in the form of Louis Farley. Nancy and Louis, both wounded souls, take comfort in one another through e-mail, pictures, and promises of perverse sexual encounters.
A top surgeon is besotted with a beautiful woman who once rebuffed him. Unable to come to terms with life without her, he tries to convince her that they need each other. She has other ideas, but a horrific accident leaves her at his mercy.
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.
A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
A notable opera singer tries to commit suicide because of a emotional breakdown. While hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic, her daughter cautiously approaches the man she considers to be the blame for the state of her mother in order to gain her revenge.
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for France, where he meets volatile fellow painter Paul Gauguin and struggles to find greater inspiration.
In a country house at the turn of a century live a family of eccentrics. Anastasia, the beautiful mistress of the manor, enjoys the amorous attentions of her stepson Blarney so openly that her husband Diapanasius takes out his shotgun and shoots her. The rest of the family accepts her end as a matter-of-fact, and soon - her return as a voyeuristic ghost who interferes with their love lifes. Anastasia has a posthumous son Tadeusz, "born" by clambering out of the tree trunk. Anastasia seduces him too, and drives another men so crazy that they kill her another couple of times. Finally, Tadeusz, the arch-rebel, leads a mob on a raid of the old manor.
Today in France, one in five young people suffers from severe depressive symptoms, and the number of minors visiting psychiatric emergency rooms has tripled in the last five years. Despite the political will that has been demonstrated, child psychiatry is nevertheless faced with a severe lack of resources. The interminable waiting times for treatment are causing a surge in prescriptions for psychotropic drugs.
A film producer murders his star actress during an erotic "game" and makes it look like suicide. The dead girl's lesbian lover discovers what happened, and plots her revenge.
When we first meet Lucia she is withdrawn and isolated from her friends and family, dealing with anxiety attacks and a legion of secrets. But when she meets bright and carefree Olivia, Lucia seizes the opportunity to break out of her shell and live the life she was afraid to admit she wanted.
When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.
Colloquially-told story of a few days in the life of Marieta, who's saving money for the last operation in her change from man to woman. She works as a prostitute in Madrid and longs for a legitimate job. Whenever she builds up her savings, her housemate and best friend Tomás finds ways to spend, lose, or cost her those funds. She meets Raúl, whom she likes and who likes her; the trouble is he also likes that part of her she wants removed. If that's not enough, she also has narcolepsy, and when she conks out, she dreams of musical-theater numbers in which she's the singing and dancing star. Are these dreams always going to be 20 centimeters out of reach?