The painful life of a mentally unstable but highly gifted woman is unveiled in this film, based on episodes from the life of an actual person. Aloise (Delphine Seyrig) creates a series of haunting drawings while she is incarcerated in an institution for the insane in turn-of-the-century Switzerland. She endures torments as a musically gifted girl and later as a young woman; her developing madness and the barbaric treatments of the time are shown.
The hero of this bleak science-fiction story is a married man who, along with his wife, survives the mysterious destruction of the world. After his wife dies, he makes plans to seek out whatever remnants of civilization exist. However, the arrival of a group of children and their older mentor changes his plans.
In Bab El Oued, during the French colonization, the action takes place against the backdrop of elections. The unemployed Roro, son of skewer merchant Dodièze likes Chipette, daughter of hairdresser Gongormatz.
