누추한 로마 빈민가에서 매춘부의 기둥서방 노릇을 하던 아카토네는, 자신의 파트너 마델레나가 유치장에 갇히자 생계가 막막해 진다. 그러던 중 아카토네는 순수한 스텔라를 알게 되고....
19세기 경제 공황 때, 빈곤과 퇴페에 찌든 파리 뒷골목. 남편이 바람나 떠나버린 후, 절름발이 제르베즈는 두 아이와 함께 어렵게 살아간다. 그러던 어느날 그녀는 마음씨 착한 쿠포와 재혼을 하게 된다. 그러나 행복도 잠시 쿠포가 다치면서 비극은 시작된다. 한 여자와 두 남자와의 기구한 동거생활, 마침내 실성해버린 제르베즈는 술주정뱅이로 전락하고 만다.
소규모의 그룹이 요트를 타고 여유로운 일상을 즐기고 있다. 산드로는 건축가로서 지금은 나이가 약간 있다. 그는 약혼녀 안나와 그녀의 여자친구 클라우디아 등과 동행중인데, 안나와 곧 결혼할 예정이다. 안나는 결혼을 앞두고 다소 흔들리는 인상이다. 겉으로는 부족한 것이 없어 보이지만, 실은 이들의 내면은 의미없는 일상과 문명에 황폐한 상태다. 요트가 아이올리스 섬에 이르자, 무인도임을 알고 뭍에 오른다. 그런데 산책길에 나섰던 이들 중에 안나가 돌연 사라져 버린 것을 발견한다. 처음과는 달리 사태는 실종사고로 확인되고, 섬과 주변에 대대적인 수색이 벌어지지만 그녀를 찾지 못한다. 그녀가 완전히 실종된 것을 확인하자, 남은 산드로는 상심하고 클라우디아는 안나에게 다소 냉정했던 산드로를 질책한다. 그러나 이들은 곧 서로에게 끌려 욕망이 이끄는 대로 행동하기 시작하는데...
Alberto Nardi is a Roman businessman who fancies himself a man of great capabilities, but whose factory teeters perennially on the brink of catastrophe. Alberto is married to a rich and successful businesswoman from Milan, Elvira Almiraghi who has a no-nonsense attitude and barely tolerates the attempts of her husband to keep his factory afloat with her money.
Normandy, second half of the nineteenth century. Jeanne Dandieu lives in a manor house with her parents and their servant Rosalie. She gets to know Julien, a handsome man, whom she soon marries. Her happiness is short-lived as she finds out that not only has Julien married her for her money but he cheats on her as well, with Rosalie to crown it all.
Problems arise for Antonio Magnano when he is unable to consummate his marriage to the beautiful Barbara Puglisi and his virility is called into question. Despite the fact that he loves his beautiful wife and they have otherwise been happily married for a year, his problem becomes a source of contention for all concerned.
At a wedding party involving three beautiful women, a young man should choose the most charming. But a professor intervenes to prevent the verdict, remembering the troubles caused by Paris in a similar situation.
Alain is the only son of a wealthy bourgeois couple. He takes violin lessons in Ménilmontant, where he is spotted by Fleur, a poor girl: she is going to kidnap him and demand a ransom from the young man's parents, money which will be used to pay for a good lawyer for her brother accused of killing a policeman.
In Lebanon, industrialist Hennequin, director of a French oil company, entrusts engineers Jean Domèvre, a Frenchman, and Mokhrir, a Lebanese, with the prospecting of an isolated region granted to him by Countess Athelstane Orloff. Their search remains fruitless until Mokhir reports the discovery of a uranium deposit, but disappears before Jean can identify the location. He goes to the Countess for help in finding Mokhir and surprises her when, due to financial difficulties, she is negotiating her concession with the Englishman Hobson, director of a rival company. Attracted by Jean, the Countess nevertheless gives him her preference and they set off together in search of Mokhir.
Quand la Femme S'en Mele (When the Woman Butts In) stars French film favorite Edwige Feuillere as a high-class gangster's moll named Maine. When Maine's first husband and daughter pay a visit, it's an awkward time for our heroine and her current amour, gang boss Godot (Jean Servais). In addition to fielding a lot of embarrassing questions, Godot also has to deal with a pesky turf war with a rival mobster. Not that the ex-husband is a paragon of virtue: he's busy trying to get even with a crooked business associate.