After the conductor of the orchestra he has been playing in commits suicide, a young clarinettist is left with a quite valuable violin.

Sprung from a Dostoevsky novella, Benoît Jacquot’s directorial debut won praises from the likes of Deleuze and Lacan, with critics hailing the young auteur as Bresson’s spiritual son. The Brechtian theatricality of what Jacquot coined a “talking film” is anchored by Anna Karina’s evocative grace.