1985 film by Claude Zidi

Hélène, jeune étudiante en médecine, est amoureuse de l'aspirant musicien Pierre Regnier, dont le père, un chirurgien de renom, l'exhorte à abandonner la musique pour la médecine. Incapable de résister à son père, Pierre se tue, incitant la Madeleine en deuil à oublier la romance et à consacrer sa vie à la guérison.

Inspired by the life of the french-born photographer and ethnographer, Pierre Verger, the movie follows his journey between Bahia, Brazil and Benin, Oriental Africa, showing places and people he met and his life study project: the Candomblé culture.

The climbing of an immense staircase made up of the most varied stairs- Symbolic scenes occur on different levels where characters seem to be prisoners of their deeds and of their own folly. The steep staircase leads little by little towards the zones of great light where human beings and nonhuman beings meet.