Intrigue

A man's sleepless night leads to a revelation about his wife. Office workers struggle to find seats at a crowded cinema. Modern stress affects everyone, even psychiatrists. A hunter, couple, and farmer compete for space in the woods.

The director's cut (restored version) opens and closes with theatrical curtains in homage to Georges Méliès films, and is divided into four parts, separated by title cards: I - L'insomnie [a man can't sleep, and reads about vampires until sunrise, when his wife finally wakes up and reveals her true nature]; II - Le cinématographe [unlike 1895, employees leaving the factory, or the office, are a much eventful thing, and finding a sit in a crowded cinema is quite a task]; III - Tant qu'on a la santé [in modern times, everyone suffers of stress, and the psychiatrist most of all other people]; IV - Nous n'irons plus au bois [a week-end hunter, a couple out for a pic-nic, and a farmer setting a wire fence find that a large wood is not large enough to accommodate them all].—Artemis-9

Four short comic films on the theme of mental well being in different situations are shown. In "Insomnie" (Insomnia), a man is reading a horror novel in an effort to try and fall asleep. But being engrossed in the story and what happens with his slumbering wife beside him may make falling asleep impossible, which he may not want to do if he knew what was really happening. In "Le cinématographe" (The Movies), a crowded movie theater becomes an issue for its patrons with late arrivals, differing priorities of the people in the theater, and poor theater design. In "Tant qu'on a la santé" (As Long as You've Got Your Health), the dust, vibration and noise from the jackhammering and excavation work at a construction site and the general hustle and bustle of traffic and people rushing from place to place take their toll on the general populace. The physician's booming business treating those stressed because of it has an unintended consequence at a restaurant. And in "Nous n'irons plus aux bois" (Into the Woods No More), a picnicking couple, a farmer erecting a wire fence and a small game hunter are all going about their business in the same clearing next to the woods. The activities of each negatively affects the ability of the other two to do their business.—Huggo