Brought into the prospering family business (a tannery) by his father-in-law, Pierre spends his days in comfortable ennui and his nights in sexual frustration (revealed in a jaw-droppingly strange and clever dream sequence), which he hopes to cure with his comely new secretary (Nicole Kalfan), his contemplated pursuit of whom builds to a giant wind-up toy of ludicrously intricate complications.

NEWYORKER: Le Grand Amour