马塞尔（安德烈·维尔姆斯 André Wilms 饰）曾经是一个小有名气的作家，可是，热爱自由的他厌倦了作家高高在上的枯燥生活，于是来到了勒阿弗尔，摇身一变成为了一个快乐的擦鞋匠。勒阿弗尔可爱而又热情的居民让马塞尔找到了心灵的归宿，在这里，马塞尔过上了梦寐以求的平静而又安定的生活。 一个非洲男孩的出现打破了马塞尔规律的生活，出于同情和本能，马塞尔收留了这个被警察追得到处跑的可怜男孩。屋漏偏逢连夜雨，在此节骨眼上，马塞尔的妻子阿勒提（卡蒂·奥廷宁 Kati Outinen  饰）患上了恶疾需卧床休养，一边是凶神恶煞的警察，一边是病危的妻子，马塞尔一下子被推到了命运的十字路口。

影片以日记的形式呈现。无所事事的年轻人米歇尔（马丁·拉萨尔 Martin LaSalle 饰）在赛马场目睹了一个小偷偷窃的全过程，他被小偷那自信优雅的手法所吸引遂即加入了偷窃的勾当。爱读书，坚持虚无主义哲学思想的米歇尔坚信偷窃是一种手指的芭蕾，一场完美的行窃就像一场精彩的行为艺术。米歇尔有一个久违的病重的母亲，在去探望的时候结识了一直照顾他母亲的邻居珍妮（玛莉卡·格林 Marika Green 饰），漂亮的珍妮唤醒了米歇尔心中沉睡已久的感情。米歇尔被警察盯住了，警长虽然三番五次的给了他改过自新的机会，但米歇尔依旧沉迷于他的“艺术”中无法自拔，很快，米歇尔被捕了。 珍妮来狱中探望米歇尔，她向他袒露了自己的真情，米歇尔在泪水中猛然醒悟，当生命中还有所爱的人存在，生活就不会是一片虚无。

英国外交官彼得•琼斯（Anthony Higgins 饰）和妻子玛格丽特（Charlotte Rampling 夏洛特•莱普宁 饰）、儿子尼尔森（Christopher Hovik 饰）共同生活在驻巴黎的大使馆内。妻子频繁外出令彼得产生怀疑，他通过侦探得知玛格丽特在外面租住的公寓，并跟踪而去。却发现妻子和一只猩猩躺在一起。 彼得一度想杀掉这只名叫马克斯的猩猩，不过最终仍将它接到家中，只是马克斯和玛格丽特的暧昧关系始终令他不知所措…… 日本新浪潮导演大岛渚执导的外语片作品。

IMDB简介 Pierre married Florence, the only daughter of a small industrialist. 15 years later, he is the boss, but his middle-class life worries him a lot. When a new young and lovely secretary comes, he starts dreaming. Written by Yepok Twenty-five year old Pierre is a man who likes to play the field, about which most of girlfriends are aware. Pierre falls into a relationship with Florence Girard, who he loves and marries more out of circumstance than anything. Their life is less than the exciting one he envisioned for himself, as he ends up working for Florence's father in the office of the family business, a tannery. Old habits surface as he embarks on a few extramarital dalliances, which he sees solely as distractions from the problems of marriage, one of those problems with Florence being her mother, who Florence resembles. Thus he sees his future as that of his staid in-laws. It isn't until he is in his late thirties that he truly does begin to contemplate ending the marriage, all because of his new eighteen year old secretary, Agnès, with who he believes he has fallen in love. The questions become whether he will do anything about it, if his feeling for Agnès truly is love, whether Agnès has similar feelings for him, and how Florence truly feels about marriage to him after ten years and visa versa. Written by Huggo