1951. André Bazin and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze founded "Cahiers du cinéma". With contributions from self-taught filmmakers (Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette...), the magazine revolutionized film criticism and gave birth to the leading figures of the Nouvelle Vague.
Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she's determined to make a new start and she'll do it with style and panache.
At 25, Berthe dreams of making a living from her painting, never to marry, and to always stay with her sister Edma. Her parents do not see things from the same angle. Then Berthe meets Edouard Manet, who takes an interest in this young artist apprentice whose face inspires him.
A banker has died. He trafficked in nuclear material, so French intelligence assign two agents to find his list of contacts, which are on a flash drive: Muriel - the boss, acerbic, willing to sleep with any man, wondering if she should have a child - and Philippe, younger, boyish, meticulous, bothered by Muriel's frank sexual interest. They watch Constance, the banker's widow: a naïve, friendly, open, trusting. She's taking opera lessons, so the French spies join the class, which Muriel enjoys. It seems that other spies are after the same USB, and some of them sing as well. Singing, spying, and sex lead to duets of all kinds as well as to an eventual showdown.
At a French boarding school for troubled youth in the early 1970's, the Headmaster and his wife decide that their son Daniel, who is fifteen years old but looks younger, should finally go live in the dorm with all the other students, as they do not want it to seem Daniel is receiving any special treatment. Daniel is now faced with the challenge of earning the trust and respect of the other students, who all come from troubled backgrounds.
Bisexual attorney Alain is bedding his female boss, his murderer client, the client's hairdresser girlfriend, and a precocious boy who knows what he wants and tries to convince Alain that he can 'have it all'.
Love between a man and a woman that endures the ravages of time.