Four films starring the acclaimed French actor, Gerard Depardieu. In 'Buffet Froid' (1979), unemployed loner Alphonse Tram (Depardieu) becomes the prime suspect in a serial killing investigation after his knife is found sticking out of a body on the Metro. As the net closes around him and the bodycount escalates, he goes on the run with a couple of unlikely allies: the ageing police inspector who lives upstairs, and a depressive who has murdered his wife. In 'Mon Pere ce Heros' (1991), Depardieu stars as Andre, an estranged father who takes his teenage daughter Veronique (Marie Gillain) away on holiday. While they are away, Veronique begins to act strangely and, by spying on her, Andre finds that she is experiencing her first love and has created a convoluted story in which she has cast Andre as her much older lover. 'Tout les Matins du Monde' (1991) is based on the lives of two 17th century composers, Sainte Colombe and Marin Marais. The old Marais (Depardieu) looks back on his apprenticeship with Sainte Colombe (Jean-Pierre Marielle). Conflict arises between them when Marais (Guillaume Depardieu) leaves for the Grand Siecle Royal Court. Finally, in 'Le Colonel Chabert' (1994), when Colonel Chabert (Depardieu) returns from the Napoleonic wars after being presumed dead for over ten years, he finds a society that no longer stands for the values that he holds dear. After a money-spinning plan set up by a lawyer and the Colonel's former wife, the Colonel loses all faith in the society and turns to a simple life.

Daniel Lefebvre (Phillipe Torreton) works as the principal of an infant school in the poverty stricken region of Hernaing. His attempts to serve his pupils are thwarted by the incompetence and laziness of the local authorities. He becomes involved with the struggle of a local family to escape from the squalor and depression of the area. However, all his efforts seem in vain, and his wife Valéria (Maria Pitarresi) grows resentful of his reluctance to have another child.

The directorial debut of French actor Daniel Auteuil, who also assumes one of the film's main roles, is an adaptation of a novel by Marcel Pagnol that was first adapted for cinema by Pagnol himself in 1940. At the beginning of the First World War in rural Provence, 18-year-old Patricia (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), daughter of well-digger Pascal Amoretti (Daniel Auteuil), falls pregnant to Jacques (Nicolas Duvauchelle), the son of wealthy local businessman Mr Mazel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). But when Jacques is called up as a fighter pilot and goes off to war not knowing that Patricia is pregnant, the well digger's daughter finds herself in a difficult predicament.