Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
故事讲两个监狱犯人，处于完全禁闭状态，但通过非常奇特的手法互相沟通。
本片的导演系著名同性恋作家，影片表现了人类交流的欲望，带有较赤裸裸的同性爱画面。摄影非常出色，有一点尚·考克多作品的意味。

Byzance uses a text by Stefan Zweig to describe the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. Before he turned to feature filmmaking in 1968 with Naked Childhood, Pialat worked on a series of short films, many of them financed by French television. Byzance is one of Pialat’s six Turkish shorts.

Il n'est pas question des fastes de Byzance mais de la prise de la ville par le sultan (1451-1453) et de son pillage. De lents travellings sur les ruines de la citadelle et ses remparts racontent cette perte et ce basculement de l'Orient gréco-latin à l'Orient musulman (la cathédrale Sainte-Sophie transformée en mosquée).

La Corne d'or is mostly concerned with religious ritual, examining the mosque (and former cathedral) discussed in Byzance. As a contrast against Istanbul's status as a center of historical religious conflict, Pialat — drawing here on texts by the French poet Gérard de Nerval — also describes the city as a place of strange ethnic and religious harmony, with representatives of various cultures and religions living in close contact. He emphasizes the city's hybrid culture, its blend of Southern European and Arab influences, reflected in both its people and its very construction.