Castella, a business executive with little interest in culture, falls in love one evening with “Bérénice”—a play he reluctantly attends—and with its leading actress, Clara. Determined to win her over, he awkwardly attempts to enter the artistic and intellectual circle that surrounds her.

Acting alongside Jean-Pierre Bacri, who also cowrote the script, Agnès Jaoui skilfully dissects dissatisfaction with French provincial life in her charming and erudite directorial debut. Like hamsters bouncing on a wheel, lovelorn souls chase after the mirage of contentment to tragicomic ends.