Year 1763. Forced into exile, the famous libertine Giacomo Casanova leaves Paris and travels to London, where he meets Marianne de Charpillon, a young prostitute to whom he is so attracted that he forgets about the other women.
From beyond the grave, celebrated playwright Antoine d'Anthac gathers together all his friends who have appeared over the years in his play "Eurydice." These actors watch a recording of the work performed by a young acting company, La Compagnie de la Colombe. Do love, life, death and love after death still have any place on a theater stage? It's up to them to decide. And the surprises have only just begun...
Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.
Robert, a fan of three French actresses is a bald-headed, potbellied man on the fifties, but fully devotes himself to them, and sometimes works for them without being recognized. But those star actresses find him a simple stalker fan and make fun of him, but later recognize he is sincere and genuine.
How do you bring together such different people as Odette Saint-Gilles, an aging, forgotten actress living in a welfare home, Augustin Dos Santos, a pool boy at the Ritz Hotel, Bettina Fleischer, the heroine of a popular soap, and Raphael, a young, disturbingly handsome man? Together, will they have a last chance to make their dreams come true?
In Lille, Claire Gauthier is an ordinary married woman with a young daughter that works in an insurance company analyzing losses of insured properties. When the single veterinary Laurent Kessler claims damage in his basement caused by a flooding due to water leakage, Claire resolves the situation favorably for him. The weird Laurent visits Claire in her office successively, inviting her for drinks and lunch, and they get close to each other. Meanwhile, a serial killer is terrorizing Lille, killing women with a scalpel. Claire feels a great attraction for Laurent, who has an unusual behavior in her apartment. When Claire sees a scalpel in the pocket of Laurent's jacket, she fears him, but still loves him.
After a shoplifter finds herself unexpectedly released on parole, she pays a call on the judge at her flat. The judge, Carole Rewinsky, does not tell Tina that her elease was only a clerical error. The two find they share things in common other than the judicial system, like a mutual interest in shoes. Carole allows Tina to crash on her chesterfield... Carole spots a pimp trolling for young girls at a café. Carole failed to put him away the last time, but now, with Tina agreeing to be the bait, she has a chance for better luck... The two find they complement one another well, like champagne and cassis. Carole needs to go to Annecy to crack a crooked casino case. Annecy happens to be Tina's home town... Written by David Carless
The solitary and largely self-contained Augustin (Jean-Chretien Sibertin Blanc), on obscure young actor of bit-parts and advertisements, has but one ambition - to play the lead role in a Kung Fu epic. But hours of Kung Fu practice alone in his room are not enough. Augustin knows he must pack up and start a new life in China... or at least that part of China within bicycling distance: Chinatown in south-east Paris. There he meets Ling (Maggie Cheung), a young Chinese woman who practices ocupuncture, and little by little, Ling's needles awaken emotions in Augustin that his virginal body had never dreamed of. Where will this lead him? To Kung Fu stardom, maybe not, but to another destiny, a quirky but logical continuation of the same dream.
Odile is a business executive looking for a new, bigger apartment. Her younger sister Camille has just completed her doctoral thesis in history and is a Paris tour guide. Simon is a regular on Camille's tours because he's attracted to her. Camille has fallen for Marc, and they begin an affair. Nicolas is also looking for an apartment, since he hopes to eventually have his family join him in Paris.
Augustin Dos Santos is a benign simpleton with a slight stammer. He's serious about his part-time job as a clerk for an insurance company, and he also acts, with small parts under his belt in commercials and experimental films. An agent finds his serious innocence perfect for a part as an odd bellman. Before his screen test, he volunteers for a day at a hotel. At his screen test, his inability to see the comic center of the scene makes him perfect for the part. Back at work, women co-workers tease him, and then he's off to the countryside to play a vet in a government film about myxomatosis in rabbits. Can anything break through his serious view of reality?
Al and Elsa have been a couple for some time, but the chances that their relationship will be long-lived are few. For one thing, Al is appallingly dependent on Elsa for his every emotional need. For another, Elsa is an incredibly elusive person, extremely difficult to pin down about anything - especially whatever is bothering her. How they have managed to survive this long is a cause for wonder. When Al gets an opportunity to be cast in a movie role, complete with no-cost occupancy in the casting agent's ugly but fashionable apartment, he jumps at the chance to provide a little material satisfaction for his beloved Elsa. But what exactly does she want?