The movie begins in a theatre, where Dominik Santorski and his parents listen to Schubert's lied "Der Doppelgänger", which provides a key to the interpretation of the whole film. His parents have success-driven careers and are out of touch with their son's life. Dominik is popular at his private school, but is also spoiled by the perks given to him by his wealthy parents. While at school, his friends stumble upon a self-harm video while using his computer. Later, he watches the rest of the self-harm video and leaves a comment for the poster.
Detachment is a chronicle of one month in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Adrien Brody). Barthes' method of imparting vital knowledge to his temporary students is interrupted by the arrival of three women in his life — the damaged and naive prostitute Erica (Sami Gayle), a fellow teacher (Christina Hendricks) and a troubled teen named Meredith (Betty Kaye). These women all have profound effects on Barthes' life, forcing him to both re-discover aspects of his own personality, and to come to terms with both the tragic suicide of his mother and the impending death of his grandfather. The film is punctuated with flashbacks of scenes of Barthes' young childhood and his mother's suicide.
Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet (Julie Walters and Richard Wilson) are two elderly neighbours who despise each other. When they leave their respective gardens, their garden gnomes come alive. The Montague garden is filled with blue-hat gnomes, and the Capulet garden has red-hat gnomes. Like their human gardeners, the gnomes also despise each other.
The film begins with an introductory sequence involving the main characters and images from space and introducing many of the film's visual leitmotifs. These are motifs of virtually still images revealing the key elements of the film: Justine the bride in deep melancholy with birds falling behind her; of a lawn with trees and sundial with two different shadows; Pieter Breughel's Hunters in the Snow (often used as interpretation of an idealised nostalgia) burning; the non existent 19th hole (limbo) and the Black Horse collapsing catastrophically in slow motion (Id, ego and super-ego battle); Justine as a bride being swept along by a river; and her being held back by her wedding dress; and finally Justine and her nephew building their magic cave before the Earth crashes into Melancholia becoming one.
In Montreal, an elementary school teacher hangs herself. Bashir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant, then offers his services to replace her, claiming to have taught in his home country. Desperate to fill the position, the principal takes him at his word and gives him the job. He gets to know his students despite the cultural gap evident from the very first day of class and despite his difficulty adapting to the school system's constraints. As the children try to move on from their former teacher's suicide, nobody at the school is aware of Bashir's painful past, or his precarious status as a refugee. His wife, who was a teacher and writer, died along with the couple's daughter and son in an arson attack. The murderers were angered by her last book, in which she pointed a finger at those responsible for the country's reconciliation, which had led to the liberation of many perpetrators of huge crimes. The film goes on to explore Bashir's relationships with the students and faculty, and how the students come to grips with their former teacher's suicide. One student, Alice, writes an assignment on the death of their teacher, revealing the deep pain and confusion felt by each of the students.
Anders is a recovering drug addict in an Oslo rehab clinic. On 30 August, he is given a day's leave to attend a job interview in the city center. After visiting his friend Thomas, he proceeds to his appointment. In the interview, he admits to being a drug addict and storms out. He then wanders the streets of Oslo for the rest of the day and night, meeting, and sometimes confronting, people from his past. The film ends the next day, 31 August. Anders, who has bought some drugs on his day away from the rehab clinic, retreats to a room and injects.
Plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard was successful in cultivating an artificial skin resistant to burns and insect bites, which he calls "GAL", that he says he has been testing on athymic mice. He presents his results in a medical symposium but when he privately discloses he has also conducted illegal transgenic experiments on humans, he is forbidden to continue with his research.
In Gothenburg a gang of five black teenage boys act out an elaborate scheme for taking the belongings of one Asian and two white teenage boys, in which the blacks play good cop/bad cop (this is previewed a the very start of the film with an earlier theft from two different boys). First they ask the time. When one of the victims checks the time on his mobile phone they claim it looks like the one that was stolen from a brother of one of them. The three boys have to come along to verify this with the brother. At one point the eight have to flee from a gang of adults, and one black and one white boy together get separated from the other six. By phone they find out the location of the others and reunite. Then after some moving around, one boy of the gang wants to quit; the gang leader responds by beating him up and kicking him. The four remaining gang members proceed with the three boys.
As a young man, violinist Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) falls in love with Irâne (Golshifteh Farahani), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy shopkeeper. Her father forbids them to marry, convinced that an artist could never financially support his daughter. The dismayed musician could only carry on because his mentor gave him a special violin and advised him to sublimate his affliction. Consequently, he became a renowned artist and eventually married another woman. Nonetheless in his mind he is still with Irâne. When his lack of affection for his family leads to serious dispute between him and his wife she destroys his beloved violin. It strikes him he is no longer up to make music as he did before and therefore he is longing for death. After rejecting more conventional methods of suicide, he decides to simply lie in bed until death will have him. As he awaits the arrival of death, he is awash in visions of the past and the film lets the spectator accompany him on this bizarre and strangely beautiful journey.
Paris, 1999. Camille (Lola Créton) is 15 years old and passionately in love and lust with Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky), who is 19. Sullivan is planning a 10-month trip to South America with his friends. He is not taking Camille with him, which makes her feel quite insecure and resentful. Before Sullivan departs, they spend some time in Camille's mountain home in the Ardeche, riding horses through the fields, picking berries, basking in the sun and swimming in the Loire. When they return in autumn Sullivan leaves, writing letters to Camille while she marks his route on a map on her bedroom wall.
Through a 1994 ballot measure (Measure 16) named the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, Oregon became the first U.S. state and one of the first jurisdictions in the world to allow physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon covers the background of the Oregon law and the life of a few patients who have chosen to take their life under it. It also features some information about the neighboring state of Washington's attempt to legalize physician-assisted suicide in 2008 through a law (Washington Death with Dignity Act) modeled after Oregon's.
Fabienne Bourrier (Catherine Frot), capitaine de police à Sète, traque les clandestins. Bien qu’elle soit usée par la vie, la mort d’une prostituée sans-papier l’affecte. Celle-ci aurait un petit garçon livré à lui-même dans la ville.
During his holidays on the countryside, David Rousseau, an author of crime novels, investigates the death of a beautiful young woman named Candice. He discovers that Candice had modeled her life and career after Marilyn Monroe. Rousseau refuses to believe she has committed suicide. Teaming up with a local policeman, he seeks to prove that Candice was murdered.
The movie revolves around four senior citizens living in a hillside village. Kim Man-seok is a cranky milkman with a short fuse and a foul mouth. He wakes the village early each morning with his noisy, battered motorcycle. He meets Song Ee-peun, who scavenges for scrap paper while roaming around the town at daybreak. As they meet again and again, they slowly develop feelings for each other.