Prof. Henri Laborit uses the stories of the lives of three people to discuss behaviorist theories of survival, combat, rewards and punishment, and anxiety. René is a technical manager at a textile factory and must face the anxiety caused by corporate downsizing. Janine is a self-educated actress/stylist who learns that the wife of her lover is dying and must decide to let them reunite. Jean is a controversial career-climbing writer/politician at a crossroads in life.
Whilst I ultimately disagree with the film's breezily confident assertion that all our behaviour is, deep down, based entirely on fulfilling various "gratifications", this is a curiously explicit way of bringing this late-night dorm-room discussion into arthouse cinema. Quoting, quite literally, all of that black-and-white cinema reminds me somewhat of Guy Maddin's work.
