Martin Combes

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Pierre Esteban is a middle-aged technology teacher, divorced from Hélène, who has two children. Jeanne Lancry is a lively estate agent in the same situation : a divorcée with two children. They discover they love visiting empty apartments together and...more than just that! Life would be just wonderful if they were fifteen years earlier. But there are the children. It would be fine to live altogether in the same place. The question is : will the kids get on well with each other?

Julien, 18, visits his half-brothers without warning. Max, 26, lives in an travelers' camp in the middle of the Cévennes forest. The two brothers had not seen each other for several years. Julien falls in love with Lise, an occasional mistress of Max with whom he makes some music. This chaotic affair upsets Julien and brings to the foreground the family conflicts that they have never addressed.

In Paris, 25-year-old Damien has sex with men who pay him. He also has a life in his housing estate, and tries to keep these two lives as separate as possible. But problems start to arise and Damien feels he must make a choice.

Louis and his Daddy are driving back home. Daddy is a past master at clowning, which does not necessarily make Louis laugh. At times Daddy gets awfully mad, picking on people who don't deserve it. That also does not make Louis laugh. But Daddy IS sweet. He knows how to soothe Louis when he is very very upset. And he can rock-a-bye his baby with a song by Niagara. Daddy has been rather slipshod lately. And ill-shaved. And has had hair-raising nightmares. Louis can burst into tears just because a little girl refuses a sticker he wants to give her. What's wrong with Louis and his Daddy? Written by Guy Bellinger

'Name two figures of the French revolution?' Erwan responds with a joke scribbled on his school desk, a stranger answers back with their own scribble, and so a game begins. With each exchange, the urge to discover the identity of the other only grows stronger! Their dialogue resonates like a promise.