Party leader and power broker M. is holed up with his cronies and rivals at a monastic retreat where they plot their political fortunes while being led by a Jesuit cleric in spiritual cleansing.
After moving into a dilapidated rural villa to reinvigorate his creative energies, a neurotic artist becomes obsessed with a beautiful countess who died there many years prior.
A bank cashier who's allergic to banknotes quits his job after an armed robbery. He decides to start a new life--as a thief. He starts by targeting a popular former client, a butcher. But being a neurotic Marxist has its drawbacks.