Cool Head

After more than three decades of practice in the Paris region, a general practitioner is preparing to retire. An illuminating portrait of a fragile society and a failing healthcare system.

Adam Vollmann is 40 years old; he is a journalist for the web editorial staff of a major national daily newspaper. One morning, the portrait of Axel Challe, designated as the main suspect in the murder of a young girl, in Guerches-sur-Isoire, appears on the television screen in front of him. When he insisted to his editor-in-chief to go straight away to report there, he explained to him that he was from there, that he grew up there. What he doesn't say is that he knows Axel Challe well: he was his friend. Even more, Axel Challe was the demigod of his childhood.

Two soldiers, Daniel and Jerome, flee a war we don’t see and we know nothing about. Jerome is badly injured, he will die, he says it, he knows it, he is afraid. Then Jerome confesses to Daniel his last will: he does not want to die a virgin, he wants to die loved…

On holiday on a campsite by the seaside, Rémi, 10, is fascinated by Stéphane, 35, the father of one of his playmates. This is a new, confusing feeling for him. Nobody knows what he is going through especially not handsome Stéphane.

A married couple lives in a state of mutual loathing, contemplating divorce until they invite their younger neighbours over for a drink. In that moment, the happy young couple is dragged into the bitter resentment and psychological warfare of the older pair.

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.