Many smart people are drinking and eating. It's getting late, but nobody is leaving. Even though the door is open, people seem to be locked in the house. They can't leave either the day after or on the following days. Outside, an acquaintance, who realizes that these people can't move, organizes help for food.
Problems arise and a suicide occurs.
Eventually, the police make them get out by force. In order to celebrate their liberation, all these people gather in the cathedral to perform a Te Deum mass. By painting the intellectual society, he emphasizes an attitude very common in emergency situations where nobody can help victims because they are waiting for other bystanders' reactions.