Natacha (Ariane Ascaride) and Jérémie (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) (who also play Mary and Joseph here) are doctors: they met as adolescent communists in Marseille studying Russian – saying 'My father is an engineer' being difficult to pronounce for Jérémie – and they went their separate ways, Jérémie going international but Natacha staying in Marseille.
But when Jérémie returns to her mother (Pascale Roberts) and father (Jacques Boudet) Natacha is catatonic, and a major part of this film is spent in flashbacks over a long period, until we come to the racism of Natacha's married comrade Vadino (Gérard Meylan), who is distressed to the point of not inconsiderable violence at the thought of his fourteen-year-old daughter becoming emotionally involved with an Arab boy of the same age.
And then we see not the savage rape, but the effects of the rape by Vadino on Natacha, and we understand why she has become what she has become. Jérémie carries her in his arms, and perhaps we have a new beginning.
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