Haut bas fragile

Haut bas fragile is a light-hearted even frivolous film set in a summery Paris; a musical comedy about the adventures of three young women in the hot and lazy month in the City of Love. Ninon, a streetwise whore, leaves her worthless friend and takes a job with a courier company. She is obsessed by dancing and spends a lot of time in a nightclub run by the mysterious Alfredo Garcia. Louise, who has lain in coma for five years, takes a room in a hotel. She finds out that her aunt has died and that she has inherited her house. Ida is a librarian in a beautifully-decorated reading room. She is torn apart by the fact that she is an adopted child and obsessed by an old pop melody that may be the key to the identity of her parents. These three characters are linked by the figure of Roland, a friend of Louise's deceased aunt who often visits the library where Ida works and who falls in love with Ninon. As the lives of the characters become more intertwined, the past throws its shadow over the present and the characters are forced to formulate their views on and their desires for life. Regular visitors to the festival have been able to develop a special bond with the work of Rivette over the years. They will soon recognise the hand of the French master sewing up his story with apparent ease.