Daphné loves hearing stories about other people’s love affairs. She is pregnant and spends her first trimester in a country château with her partner François. His cousin Maxime comes to stay with them to do some writing and decides to tell Daphné the story of his relationship. As a matter of fact, there are several stories to tell, and not all of them have started well (let alone ended well). Over the next four days, Daphné will also disclose her own love affairs and how her relationship ideals have been dashed. Only the viewers know that Daphné and Maxime will be bestowed a relationship story of their own.

In this comedy of unfaithfulness, French director Emmanuel Mouret studies what a relationship is, was or could be, by weaving together the relationship narratives of nine characters, purist apostles of love. Éric Rohmer and Woody Allen alike would envy the twists and turns that the characters’ stories take, swinging as they do between farce and philosophical comedy. Shortlisted for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and hailed as an “instant classic”, the film untangles two basic human obsessions: a well-told story and a destined, unforgettable relationship. From Scheherazade and Giovanni Boccaccio to Roland Barthes and now also Mouret’s characters remember, recount and create new stories in order to come to terms with the fact that they ultimately do not trust themselves.