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Widow Simone d'Argentières lives in Neuilly with her son Jean and her friend Hélène Castillon, whose brother Georges wants to marry Simone. Both the chauffeur Pistol and the servant Malar are in love with the maid Prunette. Georges makes a deal with businessman Paramine in the hope of ending his financial troubles while Albert D'Amentières proposes to his sister-in-law Simone who declines arguing that she does not wish to give Jean a step-father. Hélène overhears this and repeats it to Georges who says in front of the servants: "What a shame she has a son'. Little Jean leaves for a vacation with old father Pailloux at the country. Gypsies settle near by and their leader Luigi meets Paramine who is here under the assumed name of Simon and gives him money. The next day, little Jean disappears.
Status
Released
Original Language
FR

In the seacoast town of Boulogne, antique furniture saleswoman Hélène lives with her stepson, Bernard, who's back from military duty in Algiers. An old lover of Hélène's comes to visit, Alphonse, with his niece Françoise; he too is back from Algiers, where he ran a café. Bernard speaks of his fiancée, Muriel, whom Hélène has not met. The past is obscured by guilt, misperceptions, and missed possibilities. Appearances deceive, things change. As Hélène and Alphonse try to sort out a renewal, everyone seems off-kilter just enough to hint that all cannot end well.

The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.