在具有异国情调的伊斯坦布尔，一位法国教授在寻觅一个神秘的女人，但从各个方面得到的都是否定和不确切的答复。同时，就像这个女人的存在一样，伊斯坦布尔也充满了各种假的事物，从清真寺到旅游纪念品，所有的东西都是虚假的，而且，演员的表演也被指责为“不自然”。罗伯-格里耶正是通过这种虚假对现实进行反思。

Alexandre, a young and honest farmer, is oppressed by an authoritarian wife, who makes him work like a dog. When she dies in a car crash, he decides to stay in bed, absolutely free and inactive. Just a dog is occupied to carry food and newspapers to him.
Lorsque sa femme meurt, Alexandre décide de se consacrer à sa grande passion: la paresse. Il se couche pour plusieurs semaines. Son chien lui rapporte les provisions que lui sert la jolie Agathe, qui finit par le séduire. Mais, au moment de l'épouser, il se ravise, sa liberté et sa paresse risquant d'être compromises.

An ex-convict struggles to survive by brute force alone in a turn-of-the-century slum in Bucharest. Codine is the thug who served 10 years for murdering a friend. He returns home to his miserly mother, whose penny-pinching ways infuriate her son. A young boy looks up to Codine, and through the man's eyes he sees the economic and social injustices from an adult perspective. When Codine kills another man who violated his trust, his mother becomes more unhinged and paranoid. Thinking her son will steal her hoarded money, she plots to kill her only son. The impressionable child watches in horror and amazement at the cruel machinations of the adult work that surrounds him.

在一座海滨别墅里，一群孩子在保姆的照顾下，大部分时间都在看暴力电视节目。