Three friends face mid-life crises. Paul is a writer who's blocked. François has lost his ideals and practices medicine for the money; his wife grows distant, even hostile. The charming Vincent, everyone's favorite, faces bankruptcy, his mistress leaves him, and his wife, from whom he's separated, wants a divorce. The strains on the men begin to show particularly in François and Paul's friendship and in Vincent's health. A younger man, Jack, becomes attractive to Lucie, François's wife. Another young friend, the boxer Jean, who's like a son to Vincent and whose girlfriend is pregnant, has taken a bout with a merciless slugger. Has happiness eluded this circle of friends?
Vienna, 1906. A passionate love story develops between Franz Lobheiner and the young Christine. Lobheiner is, however, currently seeing the married Baroness von Eggersdorf. Upon learning of his wife's infidelity, the Baron von Eggersdorf provokes a duel with Lobheiner. But the former is no longer a real threat to the Baron. Lobheiner is now passionately in love with Christine. How will this love quartet end?
Charles Fouquet, the Minister of Family Affairs, is having a hard time. His wife Olympe, although not that young, is expecting a baby. His daughter Annie, as for her, is pregnant by her fiance. And let's not forget Georges, Fouquet's son, who has seduced Natacha, his close (too close!) collaborator. As if that were not enough, a former mistress of Charles' comes and reveals to him the existence of a son he knew nothing about. But Charles is a man of action and he is not so easily deterred: he WILL take action against this abundance of offspring.
2차 세계대전이 끝나가던 무렵의 프랑스. 마을 사람들은 독일군과 놀아났다는 마농을 둘러싸고 집단적인 폭력을 행사하려 한다. 레지스탕스 일원인 로베르가 마농을 위기에서 구해내고, 두 사람은 파리로 피신해 마농의 오빠 레옹을 찾아간다. 하지만 로베르의 뜻과는 달리 마농은 매춘까지 하게 되고, 모든 게 레옹 때문이라 생각한 로베르는 레옹을 죽이고 만다.
아베 프레보의 1731년작 『마농 레스코』를 각색하였다. 귀족 청년과 화류계 여인의 사랑과 파멸을 담은 강렬한 사랑 이야기를 나치 점령기의 프랑스로 옮겨와 당대 젊은이들의 억눌린 욕망과 절실한 사랑을 비극적으로 그려냈다. (영화의 전당 - 오래된 극장 2016)
Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a journey from Rio De Janeiro to Dakar with two of its engines incapacitated. To this already intensely dramatic situation has been added a romantic subplot involving Claire Magny (Michele Morgan) and Jacques Forester (Jean Marais). The love story adds very little to the film; fortunately, neither does it detract from the film's overall quality. As was the case with many French productions of the 1940s, Aux Yeux du Souvenir benefits immeasurably from the Wagnerian musical score by Georges Auric.
