After her husband dies aboard the Titanic, Louise (Julie Delpy) is forced to get a job. She leaves her small son with her father and travels to central Paris to work at the Villa des Roses, a small highly eccentric boarding house. Although many of the male guests attempt to gain the beautiful Louise’s affection, only the young handsome German, Richard Grünewald, succeeds.
After she falls desperately in love with this wealthy, would-be artist, she discovers she is pregnant. But her feelings are conflicted when it comes clear that all too quickly Herr Grünewald has found a new place in which to focus his attention, and she feels forced to keep the pregnancy hidden.
This visually inventive film, adapted from the novel by Willem Elsschot, tells of love divided by class and nationality against the backdrop of the First World War. It is the second feature by award-winning director Frank Van Passel (Mannekin Pis).
