Pierre Vielhescaze

In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.

In 1950s communist Czechoslovakia, a government minister, a war veteran long a loyal party man, leads a relatively comfortable life with his wife. However, he soon finds himself under surveillance, then under arrest. Unclear what his offense is, agents for the totalitarian regime interrogate and torture him, aiming to use their unending power to gain a false confession for these supposed crimes against the state.

A shady Parisian tries to take advantage of a family of French-descended Algerians forced to move to France.

Simon, a Jewish police inspector, arrests Karim, a Muslim, in the bust of a drug smuggling cargo ship, only to realize that Karim is an undercover agent from the military intelligence, whose mission he was not aware of. The two men pursue the narc investigation, which will lead them to confront middle eastern terrorists together.

The story of revolutionary woman Manon Roland.

The story is based on Voltaire's tale "Le monde comme il va" ("The world as it is"). Sent by the genie who presides over the destiny of Persepolis (Paris!), the Scythian Babouc carefully informs himself of everything, to tell the genie whether or not to destroy the city. This is the pretext for a series of interviews, scenes taken on the spot or reconstructed in the studio. We meet a musician who lives for his art and a Marxist historian, both of them optimists in the end; but also a war widow and an economically weak old lady: while the "fureur de vivre" gives free rein to the Golf Drouot and socialites hide their turpitudes behind a façade of good manners. A large, poorly housed family bravely faces up to its fate, and the children are happy; a working-class household talks about the union struggle, inhumane working conditions and reasons for hope. Finally, a poet sums it all up by talking about his commitment to the service of mankind.

Charles-Edmond, the eldest of the Larmentiel brothers, decides to return to La Rochelle, his hometown to die there. Forty years earlier he had been driven out by his father. Before passing away, the old eccentric announces that he has a hidden son, Émile, a fisherman to whom he wishes to bequeath his property. François, the younger brother, whom Charles-Edmond hates, is eyeing the inheritance to bail out the powerful family business, a veritable fishing trust, and will try to appropriate the affection and property of this inopportune heir. Émile, meanwhile, is too busy arguing with Fernande, a beugland singer, to suspect what awaits him...