There are three principal characters in this film, which is by no means as odd as it sounds: Jean Le Gall (Roger Pierre), an ambitious normalien with an interest in politics and writing; Janine Garnier (Nicole Garcia), who was brought up by communist parents and is now an actor who will for a short time live with Jean; and René Ragueneau (Gérard Depardieu), who comes from a farming background but will become the manager of a textile factory. All to some extent go against their parents' wishes, and all associate with an acting character who will appear in short black and white clip of films representing the actor in times in a particular state of heightened emotion when the character is in that state himself or herself: Danielle Darrieux for Jean, Jean Marais for Janine, and Jean Gabin for René.
And their difficulties are many. The behaviourist Professor Henri Laborit appears as himself, spouting his theories and 'illustrating' them with laboratory rats and short clips of the characters' difficulties which we've previously seen. The characters have varying degrees of problems, particularly seen psychosomatically in the case of Jean and René, and experienced in the most extreme case by René's attempted suicide.
There's no singing in this film, although another of Resnais's interests – cartoons – appears with Le Roi d'or being mentioned twice, once in relation to Jean digging for treasure as a child on one of the two Îles Logoden in the Golfe du Morbihan: the cartoon is mentioned this second occasion in relation to the expression 'Mon oncle d'Amérique', who is an imaginary distant relative who, in fantasies, leaved a rich inheritance.
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