Claude Castaing

At the end of the 19th century, during a ball in Joinville, on the outskirts of Paris, Georges, a former delinquent working as a carpenter, meets Marie, a young woman connected to a criminal gang.

This movie is a Marcel Aymé adaptation and it deals with the not-so-glorious side of the Occupation: black market, war profiteers, cracking open bottles of Champagne while most of the Parisians are almost starving.

Robert Langlois is now married to Catherine, the former housemaid. And they would live happily ever after if the housing crisis did not force them to live together with Gabrielle and Fernand, Robert's parents. For, despite the good will on either side, tension soon arises. What else to expect when there is too little space in their Montmartre apartment for four people (then for six then eight, the couple having... two pairs of twins!) ; the continued presence there of Fernand (who loves peace and quiet) after he is driven to retirement ; the difficult beginnings of Robert as a lawyer in a room of the apartment, etc... Other troubles follow and the harried family is on the verge of implosion...

Four vice-presidents fight among themselves to reach the top post after the president dies. Their wives take part in the various schemes to downgrade the opposition by unorthodox means.

The residents of the apartment building on Rue Montmartre are a motley crew of oddballs and eccentrics. The daring son of a professor couple is in love with a sexy student who supplements her pocket money by working as an au pair. And then there's Monsieur Calomel, the crazy but helpful neighbor who's always ready with a funny face...

Martial, Colette 's husband, is madly jealous. One day, he catches his wife writing a letter and he does want to know what this message contains, to no avail.

An aimless young man is committed to a psychiatric hospital by his father in an attempt to cure him of his delinquent tendencies.

Documents relevant to National Defence have been concealed in a certain vase by a dangerous gang of robbers. To neutralize the criminals, a seasoned police commissioner and his clumsy assistant, young inspector César, join forces with a colorful trio of thieves nicknamed Le Pouce (Thumb), L'Index (Index Finger) and Le Majeur (Middle Finger)...