In this tall, loosely based upon the life of Kazan's uncle, the director uses little-known cast members, with the entire storyline revolving around the central performance of Greek actor Stathis Giallelis (born 1941), twenty-two years old at the time of production, who is in virtually every scene of the nearly three-hour movie.
The film depicts four short stories from Pirandello's 15-volume series Novelle per un anno, which play around his birthplace in the 19th century. A raven, which in the introduction is shown to get a bell around his neck from locals, leads one from one story to the next.
A brilliant classical pianist, 24-year-old Rémi Bonnet, renounces his career for his true passion: salsa. In Paris he takes dance lessons from an old salsa master, and decides to teach salsa himself in order to be accepted in a Cuban music band. By artificially darkening his skin with UV light treatments in a local tanning salon and faking a Latin accent he tries to "become" a genuine Cuban.
At the turn of the 20th century, the poor Mancuso family (headed by the widowed Salvatore, Vincenzo Amato), from Sicily, Italy, emigrates to the United States. They dream of the land of opportunity, where giant vegetables are grown, people swim in milk, and coins fall from the sky. Salvatore takes his family, as well as his old mother, Fortunata (Aurora Quattrocchi). While on the ship to America, many men find the British Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg) attractive. For administrative reasons, Lucy wants to marry Salvatore on arrival on Ellis Island. He agrees; he understands that she is not in love with him yet, but expects that will come.
The film is the story of Alassane’s mother, who has been waiting for her husband for 20 years. It is also the story of his sister, who also waits for her husband who left five years ago, and his niece, who does not know her father. After a two-year absence, Alassane Diago returns to Agnam Lidoubé, a Senegalese village in the Fouta region, to try and understand why and how his mother has spent all these years waiting.
In this film, young Ram is a thinker who has grown up in a primitive and superstitious society, hated by his brothers and suspected of sorcery. Dissatisfied with the nomadic lifestyle of his family, he dreams of traveling to Egypt to study agriculture. Forewarned by his weather knowledge, he saves the family's flocks from a destructive sandstorm, and manages to persuade his father to let him leave for Egypt. His older brothers travel with him, but at the shipping dock they tie him up, knock him out, and dump him into the hold of a boat traveling to Egypt. When he wakes up, he is discovered by the boat owner family, who intend to sell him as a slave. They let Ram know that this sale would be his opportunity to enter the service of a powerful family, since the man they wish to sell him to, Ozir, is assistant to Amihar, the military head of Thebes. Ram actively participates in the bargaining to get the best possible price for his purchase. His initial months as a slave are a disappointment, however, since he is assigned to assist in the mummification of bodies rather than learning about agriculture. Ram is not afraid to express his contempt for the Egyptian obsession with death and the preservation of one's mortal remains, and affirms his belief in one God and the immortality of the soul independent of one's body. Amihar is impressed by Ram's honesty, takes a personal liking to the young man, and gives Ram a chance to convert a barren stretch of land into a working farm. Through a combination of hard work, good mentoring, and a bit of luck, Ram is successful in this endeavor.
Like the 1987 film, and the song, the plot concerns Central American immigration to the United States. However, unlike the earlier film that concerned itself with a successful and middle-aged Mexican immigrant, the plot of this film deals with younger undocumented immigrants.
L'histoire est centrée autour de Jacob, jeune homme et fils de forgeron qui, cherchant à fuir la misère provoquée par les mauvaises récoltes successives, s'évade en lisant des ouvrages sur les Indiens du Brésil et cherche à y immigrer comme nombre de ses concitoyens, prussiens ou non, d’une Allemagne pas encore unifiée.
Andrés, un jeune fermier d'Oaxaca, dans le sud du Mexique, délaisse femme et enfants pour tenter sa chance aux États-Unis. Il fait appel à un pollero (passeur) afin de franchir illégalement la frontière. Mais il est cueilli par une patrouille de la police américaine, placé en centre de détention puis expulsé. Il ne renonce pas pour autant… Dans l'attente, il est recueilli par la gérante d'une modeste épicerie de Tijuana, Ela. Au début, Cata, son assistante, craint l'arrivée de ce nouvel employé. Les deux femmes, elles-mêmes éloignées de leurs propres époux, travailleurs émigrés, finiront pourtant par s'attacher à Andrés…
Le film narre l’histoire vraie d'Hibat Tabib — joué par son fils, l'humoriste Kheiron — et de son épouse Fereshteh — incarnée par Leïla Bekhti. Jeunes Iraniens, militants pour la démocratie, ils contestent le régime du shah, Hibat passe sept ans dans les geôles du shah. Après la prise du pouvoir par l'ayatollah Khomeini, Hibat et Fereshteh constatent qu'un tyran a succédé à un autre, et sont contraints de fuir leur pays en 1984. Le film raconte leur vie en Iran dans la clandestinité, leur fuite dangereuse puis leur exil en France. Après leur arrivée en Seine-Saint-Denis, ils s'intègrent et s'impliquent dans la vie associative locale. Leur fils s'oriente vers les métiers du spectacle et deviendra l'humoriste Kheiron.
Les Laurent sont une famille de la grande bourgeoisie de Calais ayant fait fortune dans les travaux publics. Anne (Isabelle Huppert) dirige l'entreprise familiale. Son frère cadet Thomas (Mathieu Kassovitz), médecin, vient d'avoir un bébé avec sa nouvelle épouse. Dans la vaste demeure familiale vivent aussi le vieux Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant), père d'Anne et Thomas, et le fils unique d'Anne, Pierre (Franz Rogowski), héritier putatif de l'entreprise.