Lucien Cordier is the idle police chief of a small town in French colonial Senegal. Local criminals openly mock Lucien’s inability to put a stop to their illegal enterprises, and he is routinely nagged by his adulterous wife Huguette. Pushed to the limits, Lucien takes matters into his own hands.

Bertrand Tavernier cast no less than Isabelle Huppert, Philippe Noiret and Stéphane Audran to play in this farce combining dark witty humour with neonoir elements. A piercing and mocking portrait of life in the French colonies, it depicts the brutality of human nature with lyrical cynicism.