Inspiration

Antoine Rey looks for a special gift for his sister Melanie on her 40th birthday. He decides to surprise her with a trip to the French Island of Noirmoutier, where they spent many summers as children until their mother's death. On the drive back to Paris, Melanie is seriously injured in a car accident...

"Marius" takes place in Marseilles' Old Port, at the La Marine Bar, owned by César and his son Marius. Marius' biggest dream is to embark on one of the boats passing by his dad's bar and to set off to a faraway land. Fanny, a young and pretty seafood peddler, has secretly been in love with Marius since her childhood; Marius, never admitting it, has always loved Fanny. One day, a sailor drops by La Marine and offers him a job on an exploratory ship. Trying to hold him off and to make him jealous, Fanny confesses his love to him and provokes a fight between Marius and one of César's old friends, Panisse, a boat merchant, who despite his old age, has been courting Fanny for a while. Torn between the call of the sea and his love for her, Marius abandons his dream to be with Fanny who gives herself to him. As César and Honorine, Fanny's mother, are getting ready for the wedding, Marius changes his mind, drawn back to the call of the sea. Sacrificing her love, Fanny convinces Marius to embark on his journey, leaving her behind. Devastated but holding back her tears, she hides Marius' decision to his father.

Marie is a seemingly happy woman, married to François for twelve years, and with a two-year-old child, Paul. However, there is disagreement within the family, since François is keen to have another child, but Marie is hesitant. During the course of Marie's job as an encyclopaedia saleswoman, she meets Tony, an African-American living in Paris at a friend's villa. Before long they are having an affair. Although horrified to an extent by her own behaviour, Marie makes little attempt to hide the fact from François.

Martin, an ex-Parisian well-heeled hipster passionate about Gustave Flaubert who settled into a Norman village as a baker, sees an English couple moving into a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals Gemma and Charles Bovery, but their behavior also seems to be inspired by Flaubert's heroes.

About an 80-year old Julia, who reflects on the decisions and circumstances that happened in her life which could have led her down different paths.

Florence and Vincent Leroy are successful in business, marriage, and children. Today they want to succeed in getting a divorce. But when they both receive the promotion they have always dreamed of, their life together turns into a nightmare.

Claire and Laura have been friends since primary school. Now, in their adult lives, with each happily married, to Gilles and David respectively, they are as close as ever. Then Laura dies after an illness and Claire's world is suddenly very empty. Being the godmother of Laura's child, Lucie, Claire visits David and Lucie, only to discover he has a startling secret...

Algeria, the 1930s. Younes is nine years old when he is put in his uncle's care in Oran. Rebaptized Jonas, he grows up among the Rio Salado youths, with whom he becomes friends. Emilie is one of the gang; everyone is in love with her. A great love story develops between Jonas and Emilie, which is soon unsettled by the conflicts troubling the country.

One night at the cinema, Pierre reaches for out to take Anne's hand. She is annoyed and rebuffs him. He feels rejected. This moment begins the story of the disintegration of a couple... Pierre and Anne live in Paris with their two-year-old child Louis. After the night in the cinema it is clear that Anne is distracted and the small gulf between them seems to widen as time goes on. Lunches, evenings out with friends, there's obvoiusly something wrong. One night after a party, Anne tells Pierre that she is in love with another man. Although her confession is not surprising, Pierre's reaction is. He seems to accept it as a fact of life and refrains from asking the most burning questions. However, as Anne continues to see the other man, Pierre's feelings become more violent and it begins to dawn on them that some thing intangible has happened that can't be put right.

Tony is admitted to a rehabilitation center after a serious ski accident. Dependent on the medical staff and pain relievers, she takes time to look back on a turbulent relationship that she experienced with Georgio. Why did they love each other? Who is this man that she loved so deeply? How did she allow herself to submit to this suffocating and destructive passion? A difficult healing process is in front of Tony, physical work which might finally set her free.

Eleanor, thirties, has just lost her father. He bequeathed his house in Brittany in the Cotes d'Armor. She is a photographer, has had some success but business no longer work as before. It is imperative to sell the house. She goes there with Samuel, her former companion which she left some time ago, because she does not feel to go alone and she has not returned since the death of her father. But she is playing with fire - because she knows that their relationship did not exactly appeased, even if it was for some adventures and Samuel lives with Laura. Claire Andrieux, the real estate agent, was busy organizing visits during the two days Samuel and Eleanor will stay in the house. It's a funny weekend that these three are about to spend.A surprising weekend full of surprises, emotions, tensions, memories and shouting matches in melancholy and absurd moments that leave the couple necessarily changed.

Lambert is an addict. A sex addict. It once cost him his pilot job, but he's now trying to work it out through a support group and a new career as couples therapist. Judith has no problem. She's a nymphomaniac who's delighted to sleep with everyone she likes and particularly the men she works with. Until it gets her fired. So now she's crashing at her grumpy old uncle's home, until she gets back on her feet. When Judith applies for a job at Lambert's practice, they are instantly attracted to each other. But the more she tries to seduce him, the more he wants to build a healthy relationship with her - one not based on sex. It's an uphill battle every day, to keep her from jumping his bones.

The story of a sibship of four, two men and two women, at a key moment in their lives.

Clément, a young Parisian philosophy professor, is temporarily transferred to Arras, a small provincial town, for a year. Far from Paris and its nightlife, he doesn't quite know what to do with his free time. Then he meets Jennifer, a pretty hairdresser who quickly becomes his mistress. Linked by a mutual attraction, the couple seem to be immediately threatened by a host of socio-cultural differences: Clement is a rather snobbish and mysterious loner, obsessed with Kant and Proust, while Jennifer is a sweet and outgoing young mother who loves karaoke evenings with her girlfriends, tabloids and popular novels. Clément lives for the moment; Jennifer plans projects for them as a couple. Obviously, each one envisions the future of their relationship very differently. Free love and free hearts, they could live a beautiful romance together, but is it enough to bridge the gaping social and cultural divide between them?

He is a dedicated workaholic who lives and breathes his work. He prefers nothing more than silence. She is an accomplished pianist working on her big-break concert. To her, music and sound is everything. Separated only by a wall, things get interesting.

Antoine is a lawyer living in New York. On his way back to France for the final round of a job interview, Antoine finds himself sitting right next to his ex-girlfriend Julie. With a seven-hour flight ahead of them, they are going to have to speak to each other.

A tax inspector, his new bride and her sister become entwined in a love triangle.

Gary, an unskilled young man, lands a job as a decontamination sub-contractor at a nuclear power plant in the lower valley of the Rhone. Inducted into the workforce by supervisor Gilles and veteran Toni, Gary discovers that radiation contamination is not just a risk factor but an everyday hazard. At the same time, he begins an illicit affair with Karole, the fiancée of Toni.