Henri San Juan

A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.

During the colonial period in Algeria, Sergeant Bouvard helps Broussole and his two daughters, Alise and Julie, settle in Hassi Ben Okba. Demobilized, he plants vines with them. Seduced by Julie's charms, he nevertheless marries Alise because she owns the land. He protects Julie from all her lovers but cheats on Alise with Adèle, a settler's wife. Unable to bear it any longer, he runs away with Julie to Oran. The death of his father brings him back to Bou-Okba. He stays with Alise until the day when, selling his wine in Oran, he is taken over by his passion. It is Julie who will tell him to resume married life and start a family of settlers.

Out of love for a beautiful passenger he met on a crossing, journalist Robert Vitrac agrees to deliver a letter to a man named Pablo. A dangerous mission, since the beautiful Manuela has had in her possession the proceeds of a robbery, which she must forward to the fence. In this game, Vitrac would lose his honor and perhaps his life if Inspector Berio's friendship didn't protect him. Manuela, who seemed sincerely in love with the journalist, falls victim to the bandits.

Pacos Le Maltais, leader of a gang, lays down the law on the quay of Marseille. He fires one of his henchmen, Le Chinois, who killed a woman during the last bank stickup.

Irène is the unhappy wife of a wealthy publisher, Jacques Voisin-Larive, who cares about her no more than a beautiful piece of furniture. Her meeting with Étienne, a young cabinetmaker with whom she falls in love, turns her dismal existence upside down. Not wanting to reveal her condition to her lover, she pretends to be a modest maid, employed by the Voisin-Larive. At the end of a weekend spent with her lover, Irène discovers that she is pregnant. The fragile balance of their existence is suddenly broken. Taking the initiative, she reveals her affair to Jacques and tells him about her desire to divorce. But her husband has no intention of giving her back her freedom...

"La neige était sale" is based on a novel and play by the phenomenally prolific Georges Simenon. Upon learning that his mother was a prostitute, Frank (Daniel Gélin) dejectedly vows that he, too, will live a life of debauchery. Part of his self-degradation program is to kill someone, and since the story takes place during the Nazi occupation of France, he chooses a German officer as his victim. His steady descent into psychosis and depravity becomes his ultimate undoing.

Jo Guardini, now the peaceful owner of a charming inn by the banks of the River Marne, once was a dreaded gangster. The respectful citizen does not want to have anything to do with the underworld any more. Unfortunately, two of his former accomplices kidnap a little girl and decide to hide her in his hotel. What will Jo do : side with the law in the person of inspector Loriot or have a relapse in crime?

In the Charente, during the Nazi occupation, 51-year-old apparent pacifist Edouard Martin is in fact the leader of a resistance network, using his hobby of orchid growing to hide radio equipment.