This is a bizarre portmanteau movie ;although it begins with a roundup in Paris at night ,and although it entirely takes place in a police station ,it is not a detective story .The arrested persons and the gendarmes tell stories to pass the time :thus the four tales ,none of which but the last one,which is rather a spoof on detective stories .

A semi-tramp " La Pintade " tells a teenager who has run away how good it is to have a father,so... 

Segment one :"Simon's papa" ; in a small village in the nineteenth century ,all schoolboys mock at little Simon and call him names because he 's got no dad ;his mom(Blanchette Brunoy) is a unwed mother and at the time it was a shame !One day the boy saw a drowned man who seemed quiet and heard a person say "now he is happy".So he tries to commit suicide but a good blacksmith saves him in the nick of time (based on a famous Maupassant short story ,it's told with a great simplicity)

An unemployed girl dreams of another life and tells the story of one of her friends who got lucky ,so .... 

Segment two :"Gary (sorry Freddy) Cooper" : a girl dreams of Hollywood ;when an American movie star comes to Paris,she (kindly) blackmails him and manages to marry him .Silly story,badly acted .

A would be baron accused of jewels theft by a (true) aristocrat (Jean Tissier) has become misogynist ,so.....

Segment three :"only one woman";also based on a Maupassant short story ,it deals with a womanizer who falls for a girl,Yvette ,who dies of pneumonia;afterward,he will have affairs ,but without love .Boring.

It's the gendarme's turn :they tell their tale ,and theirs is the only detective story of the movie.IT's also probably the best and the funniest,so.... 

Segment four:"like father ,like daughter" A gangster has an affair with a woman who walks out on him and leaves him with a baby girl.As he wants his daughter to be carefully taught,he sends her to a respectable boarding-school ;when she's 12,she makes her solemn communion;as it is cause for celebration,dad takes his girlie to the restaurant :but when they're on to the dessert,she has a little surprise for dad . A good script ,although the communion scene was probably inspired by Maupassant's "La Maison Tellier";the daughter resembles "little house" 's Nellie Oleson.

The "prisoners" are released at daybreak ,two of them have found love .

French-language cinema, whether in France, Québec, or other Francophone regions, explores cultural identity, social change, and the tension between the individual and society. French cinema is not only celebrated for its intellectual experimentation and auteur traditions, but also its success in mainstream comedy, romance, and commercial entertainment. In Québec, films often focus on questions of language, belonging, and community within a distinct cultural landscape.

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows (1959)

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