From testimonies and medical explanations, an evocation of the last fifty years, seen through the different illnesses of the main heads of state in the world. The state of health of the men in power who have made the history of the last half-century has often been deficient at critical moments of decisions that affected millions of people. The dramatic consequences of Chamberlain's illness in front of Hitler in Munich, Roosevelt's illness in front of Stalin in Yalta.
El profesor Henry Laborit explica una teoría sobre el comportamiento humano por medio del estudio de tres historias que acontecen paralelamente: René (Gérard Depardieu), empleado en una industria textil, debe afrontar la posibilidad de ser despedido. Janine (Nicole García) es una actriz que, al descubrir que la mujer de su amante está gravemente enferma, decide que él debe estar a su lado en esos momentos. Jean (Roger Pierre) es un polifacético escritor y político que debe tomar una decisión que implica renunciar a su carrera.
Tras la muerte de su marido, Helène, dueña de un negocio de antigüedades, cuida de su hijo adoptivo Bernard, un joven traumatizado por el recuerdo de Muriel, una mujer torturada durante la Guerra de Argelia. Hélène está buscando a Alphonse, su amor de juventud, al que no ve desde hace veinte años. Sin embargo, cuando, por fin, lo encuentra, ambos descubren que ya no tienen nada en común.
The Fenouillards (Sophie Desmarets and Jean Richard are the parents, Annie Sinigalia and Marie-José Ruíz are the daughters) are shopkeepers with higher aspirations. The Monsieur wants to run for mayor of their town, but the family acknowledges he has little experience of the real world -- and so they all take off to experience it together. After starting out by getting lost, the family goes through an odyssey that takes them to Brazil, the Antarctic, and Japan in a series of episodic adventures.
A documentary film about occupational diseases shot in 1957 at the Francolor factory in Oissel. It takes the form of a scientific investigation to discover the origin of a mysterious illness that has infected a worker at the factory.
