Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.
The story of a lonely man who is caught in a perpetual cycle of time. He hangs in limbo, between reality and dreams. His only companions are a maid, a cat, and a grandfather clock. The same things are happening in his life and he becomes increasingly frustrated.
Elizabeth has just been through a particularly nasty breakup, and now she's ready to leave her friends and memories behind as she chases her dreams across the country. In order to support herself on her journey, Elizabeth picks up a series of waitress jobs along the way. As Elizabeth crosses paths with a series of lost souls whose yearnings are even greater than her own, their emotional turmoil ultimately helps her gain a greater understanding of her own problems...
A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.
A man is seen by a prostitute in his home. They try to communicate. But the loneliness they both carry creates a gap between them, enabling that communication.
A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
A man and a woman meet on a bus. She's an engineer and married. He's homeless.
In the late 1940s, a murderous couple known as the 'The Lonely Hearts Killers' kills close to a dozen people. Two detectives try to nab the duo who find their targets via the personals in the paper.
A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.
Elisabeth leaves her abusive and drunken husband Rolf, and goes to live with her brother, Göran. The year is 1975 and Göran lives in a commune called Together. Living in this leftist commune Elisabeth learns that the world can be viewed from different perspectives.
Michelle Sanderson (Ally Sheedy) is a woman who seems to have everything -- great looks, a promising career, a large circle of friends. But the one thing she yearns for most is a romantic relationship, which somehow eludes her. One night, Michelle meets a stunning young man and the game of seduction begins. But is this stranger really the man of her dreams or is he something more dangerous? A steamy one-night stand sets the stage for a suspenseful exploration of a woman's need for the right lover and the consequences she faces when choosing a person she just met.
The Man from the Embassy
Antoine, twenty-five, does not want to be alone this evening. He leaves in the middle of the night to find a remedy for his loneliness.
Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
An almost bombproof method of staying single is called "speed dating". 18 people participate in such an event. Nine men and nine women are sitting opposite each other in order to sell optimally under the pressure of time and to find a partner. They are looking for a date - and have nothing else in common. They talk about allergies, cappuccino, consumer behavior, buses and designer clothes: the list of serious embarrassments is long. Yet none of the lonely hearts has given up the hope of romance.
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
Timo has lived the last ten years alone on a dilapidated farm. He gets a visit from his childhood friends Jussi and Maiju, who have moved to the city without ever looking back. Gradually they realize how the years have changed their old friend... and how his presence seems to change everything around them.