At a Spanish cloister, a celebrated French general of the Napoleonic Wars recognizes the voice of one of the nuns and recalls how, five years ago, she was the Duchess of Langeais, and he her most persistent suitor.

1794, During the French Revolution : Benjamin Constant meets Germaine de Staël and falls madly in love with her. He has the spirit of a young writer, weighed down by the hardships of life. Germaine, daughter of a wellknown figure, is one of the most brilliant woman of the century. Early on, Germaine lutes against Benjamin's love and only admits ot admiring his spirit. But, little by little, a violent and indispensable passion bonds them together. The two lovers continue to love one another and to struggle against this love for a period of twenty years. Season after season they meet and bask in each other's company. These intimate moments are at times ambivalent, but never lack in obstinance and passion.

In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.

The story of a woman that remained distracted for a long time from her life, from the passions that made her feel alive. The importance of true love is compared with the material value of diamonds. Only one truly lasts forever. She's got to find the thing that values most for her, the thing that gives psychical stability and real happiness again to her life.

"In this film you will see a woman's handkerchief tied around a man's wrist, a well-shaven pig's head, some adolescents who are more inventive than their elders in struggling against oppression... You will not, however, hear any dialog. Words do not prepare, do not accompany, do not comment upon the action. This is not a silent film, but a film in which the only moment of life retained for the cinematographic spectacle are those where people do not speak. The spectator will find, perhaps, a greater freedom of interpretation in it and, we hope, a particular pleasure in this." (Alain Cavalier)