In a French prison, three men are coming to terms with the emotional and physical torment which their incarceration brings them. Arnaud is serving a six-month sentence for drug smuggling; he protests his innocence and will do anything to secure an early release. Francky is a hardened criminal who has all but lost his wife and family and who seeks comfort in self-inflicted abuse. Kader is in prison for theft; he is the most philosophical of the three men, he is growing accustomed to prison life and seems to prefer it to the world outside.

Fifty years old, three years past of unemployment, benefits decreasing very quickly... Gerard is at the end of the rope when a position is offered him in Indonesia. To win the favor of his new employer, Gerard invites him to dinner at home. Fatal Error ! Terrified at the idea of not being up to par, his wife Colette begs Alexandre, their neighbor to help. Communication guru, Alexander accepts the challenge and gives a makeover to the couple in twenty-four hours. Apartment, decoration, lifestyle, dinner menu, uniforms, culture... Everything !

Set in 1913, 1936 and 2001. When he returns to the casino and seaside resort of his early teens, Louis, a 78 year old man encounters Olivia, a 19 year old young woman madly in love with a violent cad. Louis tells the story of his own mother having a passionate, driven fling with his Italian tennis instructor in 1936, and of Marie Collins Brown, the slightly older widowed woman who helped him through his confusion and pain by recounting the story of her passionate 24 hour fling with a hopeless young Polish gambler in 1913.

In a French prison, three men are coming to terms with the emotional and physical torment which their incarceration brings them. Arnaud is serving a six-month sentence for drug smuggling; he protests his innocence and will do anything to secure an early release. Francky is a hardened criminal who has all but lost his wife and family and who seeks comfort in self-inflicted abuse. Kader is in prison for theft; he is the most philosophical of the three men, he is growing accustomed to prison life and seems to prefer it to the world outside.

In a French prison, three men are coming to terms with the emotional and physical torment which their incarceration brings them. Arnaud is serving a six-month sentence for drug smuggling; he protests his innocence and will do anything to secure an early release. Francky is a hardened criminal who has all but lost his wife and family and who seeks comfort in self-inflicted abuse. Kader is in prison for theft; he is the most philosophical of the three men, he is growing accustomed to prison life and seems to prefer it to the world outside.

In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.

The Select Hotel is a dead end place for those who do not have enough cash to go somewhere else. The last shelter for those who hang around at night. These shadows walking silently along the streets, selling their poor body heat for a few crumpled banknotes, swallow and digested by their voracious thirst for a cheap high. Enough to forget for a while the distress of a ruined life and to dream of a more rejoicing elsewhere. Nathalie and her brother Tof struggle against this futureless world. Pierre, a shoe-repairer, troubled by Nathalie's grace will take part for a while to the life of these two children of misery.

The Select Hotel is a dead end place for those who do not have enough cash to go somewhere else. The last shelter for those who hang around at night. These shadows walking silently along the streets, selling their poor body heat for a few crumpled banknotes, swallow and digested by their voracious thirst for a cheap high. Enough to forget for a while the distress of a ruined life and to dream of a more rejoicing elsewhere. Nathalie and her brother Tof struggle against this futureless world. Pierre, a shoe-repairer, troubled by Nathalie's grace will take part for a while to the life of these two children of misery.

The Select Hotel is a dead end place for those who do not have enough cash to go somewhere else. The last shelter for those who hang around at night. These shadows walking silently along the streets, selling their poor body heat for a few crumpled banknotes, swallow and digested by their voracious thirst for a cheap high. Enough to forget for a while the distress of a ruined life and to dream of a more rejoicing elsewhere. Nathalie and her brother Tof struggle against this futureless world. Pierre, a shoe-repairer, troubled by Nathalie's grace will take part for a while to the life of these two children of misery.

1999 Madeleine is the first step in an ambitious project by the French filmmaker Laurent Bouhnik to make one film per year between 1999-2009, recounting the turn of the century in an interweaving narrative pattern. Episode one is about Madeline, a lonely woman obsessed by religion and cleanliness. Her solitary existence leads her to place an advertisement for a man willing to share his life with a 'single, working 35-year-old.' She is a woman of our times who is caught between the paradoxes of modern life and individual needs for communication. The world offers her opportunities to satisfy material needs but, unfortunately, this is to the detriment of her spiritual needs.