In 1951, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the private detective Nestor Burma was commissioned by an insurance company to find stolen jewelery. The deal seemed easy and Burma got an appointment with a well-known black trumpet player in the neighborhood who could provide him with information. But the musician does not come and we find him murdered. The investigation becomes more complicated and Nestor must find an alibi so as not to be suspected of the crime.
Georges has Down syndrome, living at a mental-institution, Harry is a busy businessman, giving lectures for young aspiring salesmen. He is successful in his business life, but his social life is a disaster since his wife left him and took their two children with her. This weekend his children came by train to meet him, but Harry, working as always, forgot to pick them up. Neither his wife or his children want to see him again and he is driving around on the country roads, anguished and angry. He almost runs over Georges, on the run from the institution since everybody else went home with their parents except him, whose mother is dead. Harry tries to get rid of Georges but he won't leave his new friend. Eventually a special friendship forms between the two of them, a friendship which makes Harry a different person.
Three days in the lives of six friends who are nearly 30 years old, live in Grenoble, and have a rock band called the "Why Notes?". They're to play in Paris at Charles's school reunion. In getting to Paris and back, the characters interact with Aimee's ex-husband and her abrasive, cruel ex-mentor, Louise's would-be lover who turns out to have a husband, Mickey's long-time lover and her children, Bertrand's Germanic wife and their children who speak no French, and Frederic's distant mother. The band also meets Clara, a mercurial free spirit who beguiles Bertrand, then Mickey, then takes up with someone else in the band.
A G8 meeting is being held at a luxury hotel on the German coast. The world's most powerful economists are gathered to enact important provisions that will deeply influence the world economy. One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk, invited by Daniel Rochè, the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret. The next morning, Rochè is found dead...
Caught by tabloid paparazzi with his mistress Elena, a famous and beautiful fashion model, billionaire Pierre Levasseur tries to avoid a divorce by inventing a preposterous lie. He uses the presence of a passerby in the photo to claim to his wife that it's not him Elena is seeing but the other man, one François Pignon. Pignon is a modest little man who works as a parking valet. To make the story convincing, Elena has to move in with Pignon.
In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.
Paris 1942. François Mercier is an ordinary man who only aspires to start a family with the woman he loves, Blanche. He is also the employee of a talented jeweler, Mr. Haffmann. But faced with the German occupation, the two men will have no other choice but to conclude an agreement whose consequences, over the months, will upset the fate of our three characters.
When Daniel and Isabelle invite Patrick and his new flame, Emma, to dinner, it’s with some misgivings. After all, Patrick has just dumped his ex-wife — their best friend — to run off with a much younger woman. But when the ravishing Emma appears, all of Daniel’s qualms fly out of the window. He’s instantly smitten with the seductive woman...
The adventures of the young Rémi, an orphan, collected by the gentle Madam Barberin. At the age of 10 years, he is snatched from his adoptive mother and entrusted to the signor Vitalis, a mysterious itinerant musician. Has its sides, he will learn the harsh life of acrobat and sing to win his bread. Accompanied by the faithful dog capi and of the small monkey Joli-Coeur, his long trip through France, made for meetings, friendships and mutual assistance, leads him to the secret of its origins.
Neïla Salah grew up in Créteil, a tower block suburb on the outskirts of Paris, and dreams of becoming a lawyer. She has been accepted into a major university in Paris and on her first day there she is confronted by Pierre Mazard, a professor known for his provocative behavior and blunders.
To make amends for an incident, he accepts to help Neïla prepare for a prestigious competition in courtroom eloquence. Both cynical and demanding, Pierre could become the mentor who she needs... But first both must overcome their prejudices.
"Fanny" is the second part of the "Marseille trilogy", made by Marcel Pagnol with the generic name of "Marius, Fanny and César". Fanny falls in love and is abandoned by Marius. Now she discovers she is pregnant. Her mother and Marius's father, César, persuade her to accept the romantic advances of a much older man. To save face, Fanny accepts to marry Honoré Panisse, a rich merchant of the Vieux Port, 30 years her senior who will recognize her son.