Arsène Baudu and Hyacinthe, a pair of small-time crooks, fall prey to Alexandre Larsan-Bellac, who involves them (against their will) in high-profile swindling, but their success is quite limited. For starters they are deceived by Mrs. Paterson, a charming widow. Later on, Ribeiro, a Portuguese contractor and former victim of the two crooks, traces them and forces them to work on one of his building sites for damages. Just then, Larsan-Bellac resurfaces with plans to lure Ribeiro once again. —Guy Bellinger

A Paris real estate developer feels compelled to withdraw from his seemingly perfect life into a world of his own. Is the man going insane? By conventional standards, maybe, but it's clear that the life he's fleeing is madder still from his point of view, and since that point of view is unfailingly witty and astute, we even come to accept his delusions as more "real" than reality.