Acting
The film consists of seven roughly 15 minute episodes, each showing what will happen if one or more of the Ten Commandments will be broken: Jérome Chambard is warned that he will lose his job if he continues to swear; Françoise Beaufort enamored of a stripper calls on her only to find her married to a janitor who doesn't know what kind of dancing his wife performs; Denis, a Jesuit novice, leaves the order to avenge his sister's suicide, which was provoked by Garigny, who seduced her into prostitution and drug addiction; Philip buys a necklace for Micheline though he is bored with her; a young man find out that his real mother is not Madeleine, but actress Clarisse Ardant; Didier Marin, cashier of a bank, was fired by his boss; the Devil appears as a serpent for Jérome Chambard and the bishop are eating.
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.
An opera singer travelling with her company on a passenger ship encounters a mysterious young man who she falls in love with.
Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.
Bum Archimède wants to spend the winter in prison, but to get there proves not to be that easy.
A trucker encounters a dead body on the road home. He reports the incident to the police, who suspect that Jean was responsible for the death, and his new truck is impounded. To make matters worse, the man's widow accuses him of having robbed her husband, and a gang of sinister crooks are also harassing him.
Two unemployed musicians dress up as women to be hired by an all-female orchestra called "Tulips from Holland"; they fall in love with two gorgeous musicians.
The Count of Courvallon, whose gallant exploits have made the headlines, has uncoupled and lives in a pleasant estate in the C te. He has a son, Edouard, and a stylish valet, Antonio. This peaceful life is disrupted by a battalion of penniless girls living in a neighboring villa. Luisella has the nerve to introduce herself to André de Courvallon as his daughter, and immediately her comrades follow suit. The supposed father is not fooled, but his son takes it badly, especially as he has fallen in love with Luisella. Fairy tales always have happy endings.
While Henri was a POW during the war, his wife passed away, and he returned to face the challenges of bringing up three children alone. Henri may get drunk and angry at times, but he also has a better side that will not stay buried.
Elisabeth is persuaded to have killed her noisy upstairs neighbor, scientist Charles Magne. To save her, Mr. Matheu, Elisabeth's father, accuses himself while Pierrot, Elisabeth's fiancé gets rid of the body in order to save father and daughter. For his part, a gangster also believes he has killed the scientist but he gets shot down by a taxidermist, who runs for life. The girl, her daddy and her boyfriend also run away. But Magne is not dead. A bum is mistaken for him and a police inspector makes everyone believe that he is the one who shot the gangster. At the end of this crazy chain of events all the protagonists are reunited at the station house and everybody dances to express their relief.
Léonce Vavin, an entomologist, marries Cecile Debienne, but the parents of the bride quickly realize that he's not just ugly but also a complete ignorant of all sexual matters.
Colette gives up her studies to become a cabaret dancer. She breaks with her fiance who does not approve of her choice.
Louis Bertain is the owner of a Paris garage which is the front for a robbery gang. He and his accomplices are careful to keep up a civic veneer by day, indulging in criminal activities only when "the red light is on" at night. This status quo is upset when one of the gang members becomes convinced that Louis' younger brother is a police informer.
In the heart of Paris, a restaurateur's mundane life is disrupted by the arrival of his ex-wife's daughter, who claims to be in need after her mother's death. After marrying her, tensions rise when she becomes involved with a young student, leading to betrayal and murder. As secrets unfold, he uncovers the truth about her past and her manipulative nature.
Martine is searching for her sister that disappeared mysteriously. Lequévic agrees to help her.
On this beautiful May 1st, Thérèse is about to give birth. Their presence at home is undesirable, so Jean, her husband, decides to take François, their little boy, to a soccer match. Their plans change when they meet a former factory mate who seems to have made a success of his life. This man, Blanchot, decides to return to Jean a sum of money he had once borrowed. Trusted, Jean is drawn into a clandestine circle, where his apparent luck delivers him without ulterior motive to Blanchot, who is one of the ringleaders. The police interrupt the dangerous game, putting Jean, who has no identity papers, in an awkward situation.
One Christmas Eve, a carefree young man, Eric, arrives in a small provincial town. Here, he meets Julien, a bar pianist who is his exact double. Julien is in love with Marinette, a pretty waitress, but he is too shy to make any romantic overtures. Eric decides to give the course of true love a helping hand by pretending to be Julien. Meanwhile, Eric’s fabulously wealthy uncle has sent his minions out to bring him back home, so that he may celebrate Christmas in the bosom of his family.
Appointed public prosecutor in a small provincial town, Gérard Latour befriends Delanglade, whose young wife becomes his mistress. Shortly afterwards, a fire ravages Delanglade's factory. During the ensuing investigation, the Public Prosecutor discovers the troubled past of the industrialist and his front man, Jacques Perthuis, an ex-convict. They themselves set fire to the factory to collect the insurance premium. Gérard Latour, suspecting his mistress of complicity in her husband's machinations, leaves her after a stormy argument.
An English governor in India, deceived by his wife, proposes to him either to accuse the lover of embezzlement, or to condemn her to end her days as a prostitute in the rue des Bouches Peintes. She chooses the second solution...
At a construction site, an ex-con tries to sabotage the marriage of a man who married his fiancée while he was in prison.