Director
The film recounts the life of a young member of parliament who joins the Freemasons in order to relaunch his career. He thus learns of how the Freemasons are conspiring with the Jews and the Anglo-American nations to encourage France into a war against Germany.
Dialogue
Baron Arnold, a businessman, takes his young wife to Africa where he instructs her to seduce Captain Olivier, an intelligence officer. But Olivier illuminates the baroness on the unsavory activities of her husband as a weapons dealer and entrepreneur of revolutions.
Editor
Picking up moments after the end of Marius, this film follows Fanny’s grief after Marius’s departure—and her realization that she’s pregnant. Panisse continues courting her and embraces the baby’s impending arrival as a gift, so long as its paternity remains a secret. Fanny and Panisse wed, but after her baby’s birth, Marius returns unexpectedly and demands what he believes is still his.
Editor
A little boy won't go to the bathroom, which leads to all sorts of complications for his parents and their friends.
A man following the hearse (uncredited)
Stop-motion photography blends with extreme slow-motion in Clair's first and most 'dada' film, composed of a series of zany, interconnected scenes. We witness a rooftop chess match between Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, a hearse pulled by a camel (and chased by its pallbearers) and a dizzying roller coaster finale. A film of contradictions and agreements.
