Leos Carax's feature debut is a moody, offbeat tale arousing considerable controversy wherever it has screened - a paradoxical film where innovation and tradition confront each other mercilessly from beginning to end.

Alex is a 22 year old "enfant terrible", determined to leave his mark on art and life. We watch him over a period of three nights in Paris as he spends his time trailing two young couples. But the world we enter with Alex is a phantom world where everybody tries to keep their distance.

In the course of his movements, however, there are "romances" and fleeting encounters with a variety of mostly flamboyant characters - children, old people, teenagers, young men. ageing bachelors, faded women, young women in their prime.

For die must part, Alex is silent But when lie talks, he speaks too much and too fast. He ends up following his own voice. One night it will end badly...

The "plot" is open to a variety of interpretations but the eerie combination of images, music and locations create an initial effect which is indelible. One is struck, too, by the way in which the narrative forces a reflection upon the cinema as a concept of words and silence. While drawing its impact from the "interior" of the dialogue, it draws its references from certain classic narrative elements, in particular those of Hollywood films noirs.