The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie [re-release] 2000

In a peculiar turn of events, François Thévenot and his wife Simone accompany Don Rafael Acosta (Miranda’s ambassador) and Florence, Simone’s sister, to the residence of Alice Sénéchal for a dinner party. However, their hosts are taken aback by the unexpected arrival, revealing that they had anticipated the guests’ presence the following evening, leaving no provisions for an impromptu gathering. In response, François and his companions extend an invitation to Alice to join them for dinner at a nearby inn.

Upon arriving at the inn, the party discovers the establishment locked, with a reluctant waitress finally admitting them after some persuasion. Upon entering, they find the restaurant eerily deserted, with menus boasting prices that seem suspiciously low. The group is soon distracted by mournful wailing from an adjacent room and subsequently discovers a vigil for the deceased manager, whose passing had occurred mere hours prior. The coroner’s impending arrival prompts their hasty departure.

Later, at the Miranda Embassy, Acosta meets with François and Alice’s husband Henri to discuss the lucrative proceeds of a significant cocaine deal. During their meeting, Acosta’s attention is drawn to a young woman peddling intricately crafted clockwork-animal toys on the embassy’s periphery. He dispatches one of the toys with his rifle, prompting the vendor’s sudden retreat. Acosta explains that she is part of a Maoist terrorist group from Miranda, which has been targeting him for months.

Two days later, the bourgeois friends attempt to convene for lunch at the Sénéchals’, only to find Henri and Alice absent, having instead retreated to their garden to indulge in an intimate tryst. Misinterpreting this absence as a harbinger of impending police intervention due to their alleged involvement in drug trafficking, the party flees in disarray.

When the Sénéchals return from their interlude, they discover that their companions have departed, but are instead confronted by a bishop who has donned the gardener’s attire. Initially dismissing him, they later welcome the cleric back into their midst, once he reappears in his bishop’s robes, with deference and respect. The bishop subsequently offers to work as their gardener, sharing tales of his troubled childhood, including the tragic loss of his parents to arsenic poisoning, an incident that remains unsolved to this day.

As the women enter the teahouse, they’re met with an unexpected void - a complete depletion of tea, coffee, milk, and every other beverage on offer. It’s as if the very lifeblood of the establishment has been drained away, leaving only the faintest hint of water to sustain them until help arrives. Amidst this desolate landscape, a lone soldier shares his poignant tale with the women, recounting the dark events that shaped his childhood. The loss of his mother at a tender age sent him spiraling into the harsh realities of military school, where he was forced to confront the cold-heartedness of a father who had long since abandoned any semblance of paternal warmth. It’s only when the ghostly apparition of his mother appears that the soldier begins to unravel the tangled threads of his family’s past - and in doing so, uncovers a shocking truth: the man he had been calling “father” was, in reality, a killer who had taken his mother’s life in a duel. Moved by his mother’s ethereal whispers, the soldier exacts a measure of justice by dispatching the true culprit with poison, finally finding closure after years of turmoil.

Meanwhile, Simone finds herself drawn into a clandestine tryst with Acosta at his apartment, their illicit affair punctuated only by the arrival of her husband. With a quick thinking and a practiced sense of detachment, she fabricates an excuse to leave with her partner, leaving Acosta to ponder the fragility of relationships and the ease with which they can be disrupted. But little does he know, a new threat lurks in the shadows - the same terrorist who had earlier sought his life now appears at his doorstep, intent on finishing what she started. With a calculated ruthlessness, Acosta ambushes and chastises her, ultimately compelling her to retreat before turning his agents loose to capture her and spirit her away. As the dust settles, it’s clear that in this game of cat and mouse, no one is above suspicion or exploitation.

As the dinner parties continue to falter, the guests are suddenly interrupted by a group of military personnel who unexpectedly arrive at the table. However, their presence is short-lived, as they’re hastily summoned away for an intense round of military drills. The colonel then invites everyone to his residence, only for it to be revealed that his dining room has transformed into a theatrical stage set, complete with actors struggling to recall their lines - a peculiar scenario that turns out to be Henri’s vivid dream.

Meanwhile, at the colonel’s dinner party, tensions rise as the ambassador is grilled about his policies in Miranda, leading to an explosive confrontation. The ambassador’s temper flares when the colonel makes a disparaging remark about the nation of Miranda, prompting him to shoot the colonel - a development that ultimately proves to be the dream of François.

In another surreal sequence, the priest/gardener pays a visit to the bedside of a dying man who turns out to be the same individual responsible for the tragic loss of his family. After confessing to the heinous crime, the priest takes matters into his own hands and dispatches the perpetrator with a shotgun blast. The friends are then taken into custody by the authorities, who electrocute an unsuspecting individual by placing him inside a piano - a bizarre incident that adds to the sense of chaos.

However, their imprisonment is ultimately short-lived, as the ghostly apparition of a deceased soldier’s father appears and frees them from their captors. The police chief soon awakens from his dream, only to discover that the friends have been released by an unexpected phone call from the Interior Minister. The film concludes with the six friends gathering for dinner at Henri and Alice’s residence once more, but this time they’re met with a shocking and deadly confrontation as terrorists burst into their home - a harrowing sequence that ultimately proves to be Rafael’s vivid dream.

Throughout the film, a recurring motif features the six friends walking silently along a desolate country road, only to return for one final walk in the same location.