影片根据莫帕桑三个短篇组合而成：第一个叫做《面具》，讲一个老人如何借助一副奇妙的面具来恢复青春的容颜，舞会的场景非常著名；第二个《泰列埃夫人之家》讲一个妓院因为暂时休业，老板带着一帮妓女到乡间玩耍，并发生短暂的恋情；第三个《模特儿》讲一名女模特儿因恋上艺术家，跳楼自杀，摔成残废，艺术家跟她结婚

故事发生在19世纪末的巴黎，在灯红酒绿的上流社会中，一位名为露易丝（达尼尔·达黎欧 Danielle Darrieux 饰）的贵妇显得格外耀眼。露易丝的丈夫是一名极具威信的将军，故事要从将军送给露易丝的一副耳环说起。
为了偿还赌债，露易丝将耳环低价卖给了一位珠宝商人，对丈 夫则谎称耳环丢失。迫于将军的名望，珠宝商人将事情的真相如实告知。将军不声不响的将耳环买了回来，转手送给了相好许久的情妇劳拉（Lia Di Leo 饰）以讨其欢心，可是没过多久，这副耳环便辗转来到了意大利外交官德纳提（维托里奥·德·西卡 Vittorio De Sica 饰）的手中并最终物归原主回到了露易丝的身边。

In 1936, Ophüls left France for the Netherlands, where he was ironically (or perhaps fittingly) granted an extravagant budget for this parable about the vagaries of capitalism in which a bank courier bounces between economic calamity and monetary bonanza. Not a penny was wasted, though, on the virtuoso camera movement and subjective compositions of renowned cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan.

加比因为一位已婚教师自杀，他告诉她说他离不开她，而被学校开除。尽管她没有做错任何事情，却为他的行为受到了惩罚。

法兰西斯（沃尔夫冈·利本艾纳 Wolfgang Liebeneiner 饰）和公爵夫人一直保持着一段地下恋情，这让法兰西斯感到非常的郁闷。在一场晚会上，法兰西斯意外邂逅了名为克里斯蒂（玛达·施耐德 Magda Schneider 饰）的女子，当晚，法兰西斯不小心将帽子丢在了克里斯蒂那里。之后，两人常常出来约会，久而久之产生了感情。
法兰西斯知道，想要和克里斯蒂谈一段有结果的恋爱，他必须先结束同公爵夫人之间的关系，可是很显然公爵夫人并不愿意如此，更何况她手上还有着法兰西斯家里的钥匙。最终，两人的关系还是被公爵知道了，为了逃避，法兰西斯决定离开当地，走之前，他没能够见到克里斯蒂，一段感情就这样无疾而终。

故事从军人和妓女开始，牵涉勾连一整串的爱恋纠葛，包括女朴、有钱人、夫妻、诗人、年轻女孩、已婚男子、女演员和公爵；10个场景，以5男5女在华尔滋舞蹈交换舞伴为比喻。每段情事在接力的情况下将各式欲望和情感不断递移下去，就像场景中的旋转木马，回转一圈后再绕回原点。影片对性爱的描述在当时十分大胆，并以讽刺的方式对爱情的真诚个虚伪作出了探讨……

Two ghosts attend an engagement party, unseen by the other guests. One ghost, Dupont, is the father of the bride-to-be. He looks back on his marriage to her mother. His wife Annette was always very unhappy; business kept him away from home. The doctor recommended indulging her whims for furs and jewels. Then Uncle Émile suggested a trip to Paris. All went well until the day they went to the circus and saw the lion-tamer, Rodrigo the Conqueror. Rodrigo becomes Annette's lover ... and the second ghost... But wait a second. There's a third ghost at the party!
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Annette is giving an engagement party for her daughter. However, the daughter's true love is not her fiance, but an air ace. The ghost of Annette's dead husband comes to watch the party. He is joined by the ghosts of two other lovers of Annette, the lion tamer Rodrigo, and her first sweetheart, a sailor. The three ghosts discuss how their relationships to Annette ruined their lives.

To Max Ophüls this was an assignment (from the UFA), a pure routine job. One hardly recognizes the later Ophüls in this film (shortly made before his masterpiece "Liebelei"), but still Ophüls made this routine job into a well-paced, stylish and sometimes extremely funny romantic comedy; he probably could not do it any other way. The script is fine with some hilarious dialogue. The use of the surnames of the characters is simple but clever.
Having Ophüls in mind the film can also be considered a celebration of happy-go-lucky life: contrasted are those who live an easy going, wine and dine life with those whose narrow-minded life is based on punctuality and mineral water. Maybe that is why the film was banned in 1937: it was considered a film that could endanger public order and national-socialist feelings.
Good cast with Heinz Rühmann who shows his natural comic talent at best and Max Adalbert who is very good as the grumpy uncle; supporting cast good as well. Chauvinism makes me want to point out Lien Deyers (as Gina), a fine, charming and attractive actress from The Netherlands who had a successful career in German cinema.

A country girl goes to Paris to work as a chorus girl and becomes involved in dope-peddling. Finally tiring of her sordid life, she returns to the country to marry a milkman.

Bohemia in the 19th century, stage-coach driver Hans loves the mayor's daughter Marie, but she is promised Wenzel, the son of another wealthy farmer. Marie refuses to marry Wenzel because of Hans, but the marriage arranger tries to "buy" Marie from Hans. But when Wenzel tells Hans that he doesn't want to marry Marie either because he loves circus director Brummel's daughter, Hans decides to accept the offer of money for not interfering in the relations of Hans and Marie. But when Marie hears about this, she doesn't want to see Hans again.