A young girl of about 10 years lives in a farm house in the Jura mountains in eastern France. One day in autumn, when she rides her bicycle to school through the forest, she observes a hunting fox. Of course, the fox escapes, but the girl yearns to meet the animal again.
As a 17-year-old orphan, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon), steals $5.00 from a grocery store to feed himself and his little sister, both of whom are destitute. He is apprehended by the store clerk, and his sister is sent to an orphanage. Because that grocery store also housed a U.S. Post Office his crime becomes a federal offense. Young never sees his sister again and is sentenced to Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas. After later being transferred to Alcatraz, he participates in an escape attempt with two other prisoners.
In Paris, Eddie Vuibert (Richard Anconina) is an unemployed man in financial difficulty. A rich Jewish cloth manufacturer takes Eddie into his corporation out of pity because he mistakenly believes him to be Jewish as well. Eddie rapidly integrates in the Parisian Jewish community and rises as a sales manager. He continues his masquerade of pretending to be Ashkenazi Jew in order to woo his boss's daughter (played by Amira Casar).
Grégory Van Huffel est le patron d'une entreprise particulière, Alibi.com. Avec ses associés Augustin et Mehdi, il crée de toutes pièces des alibis parfaits pour ses clients, afin de cacher une infidélité, d'éviter une réunion, de préserver une vie privée. Alors que l'entreprise a le vent en poupe, il tombe amoureux de Florence, qui place l'honnêteté au cœur d'une relation amoureuse. Greg accumule les mensonges pour lui cacher son véritable emploi en s'improvisant steward.
Pierre Levasseur is a wealthy married Parisian executive involved in an affair with top model Elena Simonsen. When a paparazzo catches the two of them departing their secret hideaway and their photograph is published on the front page of the local newspaper, Pierre's wife Christine confronts him. He claims he has no idea who the woman is, and that she must have been a companion of the man seen walking beside them. Fully aware of Pierre's difficult situation, Elena gives him an ultimatum: he must choose between her and his wife. Because Christine is the majority shareholder of his business, Pierre is in danger of losing his fortune if he divorces her. His lawyer Maître Foix advises him the only way to resolve the issue is to find the anonymous man in the photo and have him pose as Elena's lover.
La vie du chanteur populaire Claude François, de sa jeunesse à Ismaïlia en Égypte, jusqu'à sa mort accidentelle dans son appartement parisien survenue le 11 mars 1978.
Régis et Joël sont deux demi-frères que tout oppose : le premier est métis, marié et père d'une fille, conseiller municipal dans une mairie et intégré au milieu de la classe moyenne ; tandis que le second est sans-emploi et vit chez sa mère avec sa fille, depuis sa sortie de prison pour agression sur une personne âgée. Les deux hommes sont un jour réclamés aux Antilles au chevet de leur père mourant, absent car ayant énormément voyagé et connu de nombreuses femmes. Là, ils reçoivent pour seul héritage l'acte d'affranchissement ayant libéré leurs ancêtres esclaves. Nullement préoccupés par la valeur symbolique de ce document, ils le déchirent, ce qui provoque la colère de leur tante.
The film covers an academic year, beginning with the teachers gathering for the autumn term, introducing themselves to each other and being welcomed by the principal, an unsmiling figure wearing rimless glasses. It ends with an informal game of football between staff and pupils and a long hand-held shot of an empty classroom.
When routine sets into Hugo and Ariane's relationship after ten years of marriage, the couple decides to swap lives. Hugo looks after the house and kids and takes up his wife's career as a door-to-door jewelry salesman, and Ariane assumes control of a building rental company.
Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a waiter/barman at a luxury hotel, is mistaken to be a millionaire by Irène (Audrey Tautou), a gold digger who convinces wealthy men to fund her lavish lifestyle in exchange for companionship and sex. Irène's elderly lover gets drunk and falls asleep on her birthday, so she goes to the bar in the hotel where she and Jean meet. After making her an impressive cocktail, actually several, they retire, tipsy, to the hotel's Imperial suite where they spend the night together. In the morning Jean awakens to find Irène has gone.
Quentin, a dim-witted small-time thief, holds up a foreign exchange booth. Unable to get the money he wants, he asks for directions to the nearest bank. When the police are given this tip-off, Quentin runs into a cinema where Ice Age is showing. He is caught when instead of continuing to run, he sits down and enjoys the film.
Betsy Jobs (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene Lorenzo (Michelle Williams) are two sweet-natured but somewhat ditzy teenage girls living in Washington D.C. in the early 1970s. Betsy comes from a wealthy family in the Georgetown area, while Arlene lives with her widowed mother in an apartment in the Watergate building. One night, on a quest to mail a letter to enter a contest to win a date with teen idol singer Bobby Sherman, the two girls sneak out of Arlene's home, at the same time as the Watergate break-in. They manage to enter and leave through the parking garage by taping the latch of a door, accidentally causing the break-in to be discovered. They are seen by G. Gordon Liddy (Harry Shearer), who they believe to be committing a jewel robbery; they panic and run away. The security guard, startled by the taped door, calls the police, who immediately arrest the burglars.
Sacha (Gad Elmaleh) is a talented jazz pianist who does not take life too seriously. He loves his friends, his piano, and he loves to party. At night, he plays in a jazz club and enjoys seducing pretty young girls. He lives for the moment, looking for pleasure, with no responsibility, no family, and no taxes. Sacha's carefree life changes suddenly when he meets a forty-something career woman named Charlotte (Sophie Marceau) one rainy afternoon. After they make love, Sacha discovers that Charlotte has three children, not to mention a jealous soon-to-be ex-husband who runs the multinational company they both work for. Although she no longer loves her husband, she has a hard time untying the knot because of his wealth and power. Sacha and Charlotte have seemingly nothing in common, but they may just be made for each other.
In the French Alps, during the year 1943, Sébastien is a seven year old orphan boy living with César, an adoptive "grandfather" and his daughter, Angélina. The unusual little family lives in the small village of Saint-Martin, whose inhabitants, despite the German occupation, secretly organize the passage of Jewish exiles into Switzerland. The village is also plagued by a mysterious "Beast" who preys on the flocks of the shepherds and the inhabitants, including Cesar's animals. Sébastien is a very lonely child who is suffering from the absence of his mother. He believes that she migrated "to America, just over the mountains", and spends all his days in the mountains. One day, on the way home, he meets a huge dog, wild and completely discredited: it is the so-called "Beast". Sébastien is not slow to make friends with the animal, a female sheepdog, and names her "Belle" because he is struck by her beauty after she is cleaned up from the mud that she was coated with. Sebastian decides to keep his friendship with Belle secret to protect her.
In 1967, the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, visits West Berlin to attend a performance at the Deutsche Oper. Angered at the Shah's repressive policies in governing Iran, a number of young Germans show up to protest his appearance. The German police and the Shah's forces attack the German protesters and one of them, Benno Ohnesorg, is shot and killed without provocation by Karl-Heinz Kurras.