France, 1968. Dans une station de ski, une petite fille rousse, Nicole, est assassinée à coups de pierre par un individu voilé et vêtu de noir qui enterre ensuite son cadavre dans la neige.
The film follows a day of Bonifacio (Sady Rebbot), a young and unemployed designer with anti-social tendencies. He has applied at a job and has an interview for the psychological test in the morning. The rest of the day, he starts to roam around Venice and recalls his past, also having daydreams about his future. Flashbacks reveal his troubled love affair with his former girlfriend Gabriella (Pascale Audret) and his relationships with his communist friends Claudio (Tino Buazzelli) and 'Kim' (Franco Arcalli).
In Rome, during the reign of Nero, a young Roman general named Marco Vinicio falls in love with a beautiful Christian slave: Lydia. Their love is impossible, for the contrast of religions, and so Nero, when he learns, imprisons both them. The emperor also intends to extend his domination of Rome and burns the city, blaming the Christians, already hated by the Romans.
The story is set during the early years of rule by the emperor Nero. He is an ambitious man obsessed with gaining absolute power. His soldier falls in love with a young Christian slave named Lycia, but their love is hindered by Nero, who hates Christianity and unleashes his officers to burn Rome, pinning the blame on the Christians. In addition, the cruel Nero kidnaps the pair and sends them into an arena to fight lions.
Set in an unnamed coastal city in Italy, the film tells a story of an American girl, Nancy (Sydne Rome) who, after a sexually assault attempt, takes shelter in a villa filled with strange guests. There, she gets into a relationship with a retired pimp Alex (Marcello Mastroianni).
Oreste, un employé ministériel, perd à cause d'une spéculation hasardeuse une forte somme d'argent pour laquelle ses trois filles avaient cotisé pour la maison de campagne de la famille. Mal conseillé par son ami Giacomino, un escroc magouilleur qui vend des ustensiles de cuisine sur un stand en voyageant avec le jeune Salvatore, il se met à accorder des licences d'exportation en échange de pots-de-vin. Avec ces sous, il envoie sa femme et ses trois fille à Capri.
Deux jeunes mariés à l'encontre de la volonté des familles se réfugient dans un petit hôtel proche de la gare de chemin de fer. Ils n'ont pas l'argent pour payer la chambre et projettent de se suicider au cours de la nuit.
A Brazilian industrialist (Raf Vallone) plans to sterilize the human race through the use of his satellite and to personally repopulate the planet with beautiful women he has kidnapped and is holding in suspended animation. A down-to-earth CIA agent (Michael Connors), an aristocratic female MI-6 agent (Dorothy Provine), and her chauffeur (Terry-Thomas), driving a Rolls-Royce car filled with spy gadgets, team up to stop the madman.
Le film est l’histoire de deux frères. Le plus âgé (Roberto) découvre une manière neuve de représenter la réalité dans le cinéma: le néoréalisme. Le plus jeune, musicien, réalise des commentaires musicaux de cette nouvelle identité filmique. Quand ils sont arrivés à l’âge mûr, ils se rendent compte de l’insuffisance de leur art et ils en tirent, chacun à sa manière, leurs conclusions.