Les atomistes

A gambling countess comes by a secret three card combination that wins her a fortune, but she is allowed to use it only once and not gamble again. She passes on the info twice, and the recipients both die violently. She is warned that if she passes it on again, she too will die. Many years later, a young soldier discovers that the countess has the secret, and he resolves to get it out of her.

In the wake of a heart-wrenching divorce, a young mother turns to her adoring lesbian friend for comfort. They have a brief relationship, but she is unable to face her own probable lesbianism, and soon retreats to the safety of a conventional marriage.

Gervaise Macquart is a beautiful Parisian laundress and mother whose lover, Lantier, walks out on her. She eventually marries Henri Coupeau, a roofer who has an unfortunate accident. As her now crippled husband descends into alcoholism, Gervaise tries to make ends meet on her own. Life becomes even more complicated when Lantier returns and befriends Henri. Meanwhile, the man she really loves is sent to prison.

Marina and her boyfriend have an argument while on a trip in France. While driving with the car among the cliffs, he starts speeding and the car falls into the sea. Marina can jump out of the car, but her boyfriend seems to be drowned. She gets to know his brother and he falls in love with her. But why does she always feel watched? What reasons are behind her strange behaviour anyway? Did she really murder her boyfriend? But is he dead anyway?

In this movie based upon Julian Green's novel, we follow Paul's downfall as he is torn between his love for Angele, a local prostitute, as he finds out too late, and Madame Grosgeorge's love for him.