Editor
Irene is an ordinary married woman living in Amiens, in the North of France. She works in a bank where, one day, she finds herself duty-bound to strip a client of her credit card and check book for ten years. Later on, while walking in a park Irene notices a mysterious homeless woman wearing a yellow coat. At a time she witnesses her shoplifting in a store. One night, on her way back home, she is attacked by the mysterious woman.
Editor
Whenever people are released from their society's constraints, there is the possibility that they will behave badly, at least according to the rules of the society they have left behind. This seems to have been particularly the case for Europeans living in colonial establishments in Africa and Asia. In this drama, based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Dr. Steiner (Andrzej Seweryn) was caught with his fingers in the till at a German hospital. Rather than prosecute him, they gave him the option of emigrating elsewhere. He chose to serve at a clinic in a remote part of Portuguese Goa. He has been on his best behavior for years, but when the beautiful wife (Fanny Ardant) of a diplomat comes to him asking for an abortion, he is tempted to ask for sexual favors in return, and his life swiftly goes out of control.