A film that is expressly political in both origins and subject. Marin Karmitz based his film on a script written by a worker about a strike and sit in. He did not employ any actors, but made the film with more than a hundred women workers in a deserted factory in Elbeuf, Normandy. The women contributed with their own experiences of real strikes to the final script and the factory was made ready to really work. Actresses and film crew formed a film collective in which everyone received the same pay. In the story, the workers go on strike when two of their spokeswomen, Agnès and Colette, are sacked by their boss Boursac. Only after an occupation that lasts weeks and the kidnapping of Boursac do the rebellious women win their struggle.
