In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.

Life is so dull in a quiet little neighborhood that gossips, eager for some kind of scandal to brighten things up, imagine their haberdasher has been having quite a raunchy sex life.

In this adaptation of "Les Deux Orphelines," two sisters are separated during the French Revolution and face a series of hardships as they attempt to find each other again. Their story unfolds against the backdrop of political unrest and social upheaval in late 18th-century France.

Young Gervaise has been very unhappy since her friend abandoned her. The man named Coupeau, a sympathetic roofing worker, takes her under his protection and tries to make her forget her dramatic breakup. But Coupeau is unable to free himself from alcoholism and soon Gervaise finds herself on the street.

The error of an examining magistrate forever tears apart a happy and united family.

Unhappy with her humdrum life as a provincial schoolteacher, Audrey Greenwood marries Major Carter, an officer in the British Army whom she does not love. Not long after the wedding Carter is on his way to Malaysia, accompanied by his wife, to take up a post in the British colony. During the long sea voyage, Audrey becomes acquainted with the handsome Prince Selim, the heir to the Malaysian throne. Life in the province of Malacca soon proves disagreeable to the free-spirited Englishwoman and she becomes a social outcast when her amorous affair with the prince is discovered.

Count Dimitri is sentenced to death for hitting Prince Paul who was trying to steal a kiss from Countess Vera. Prince Paul pardons him because of a young girl who knew how to conquer his heart at the right time.

During the students ' rebellion against Nicholas the Second in Russia, Viana tries to kill the governor but it's her lover who is arrested and sent to a sinister fortress : hence the title. To help the prisoner,Vania marries the officer who commands the place. There the convicts have really a bad time, but Vania manages to communicate with her dear captive. But beware of informers.

Edwige Feuillère and Pierre Richard-Willm star in director Jacques de Baroncelli's adaptation of the Balzac novella The Duchesse de Langeais, which tells the tale of a Parisian socialite who is romantically pursued by a Napoleonic war hero. With a screenplay by Jean Giraudoux.

In the middle of the 19th century, Tsar Alexander II made the acquaintance of a young aristocratic girl from the provinces, unruly in character. He falls in love with her and tries to see her again.