The film is divided into three parts: The Departure, The Absence and The Return.The film begins with Julie Pommeraye walking the streets of Paris; she goes to a cinema and from the tickets queue calls her boyfriend IsmaÃ«l BÃ©noliel on her cell phone. He is at work with Alice, but when Julie asks him he lies and says he is alone. Julie responds that he pisses her off. Later that night, IsmaÃ«l runs into Julie on his way home. They discuss Julieâs frustrations about their relationship and eventually, already in their apartment, become reconciled. Shortly afterwards Alice arrives; they all get into bed together, read a different book each and fight about each one's place in bed.The next day Julie and IsmaÃ«l have breakfast with Julieâs family; Julie gets frustrated and leaves for the kitchen, followed by her older sister, Jeanne. Julie tells Jeanne and later her mother about Alice and the threesome. In the night, after IsmaÃ«l, Julie and Alice leave a bar where they were eating, Julie starts complaining about IsmaÃ«l's relationship with Alice; IsmaÃ«l responds that so is she and that she is the only one he loves, Alice tells them that she is only there to bring them together. They go to a concert where Alice befriends a guy named Gwendal. Julie starts feeling bad, so she and IsmaÃ«l decide to leave. Julie goes out of the building while IsmaÃ«l gets their stuff; when he comes outside he finds Julie unconscious on the floor while a woman performs CPR on her. The police arrive and question IsmaÃ«l while paramedics attend to Julie. One of the paramedics talks to a police officer who then goes back to the car in which IsmaÃ«l is sitting and over the radio reports Julieâs death.Going to work, IsmaÃ«l runs into Jeanne on her way to the apartment to pick some of Julieâs clothes up, after an argument about why she didnât tell him first, IsmaÃ«l gives her his keys. At work he tells about this Alice who doesn't like it; they argue then comfort each other. Since Jeanne is staying in IsmaÃ«lâs apartment he doesn't want to spend the night there and Alice takes him to Gwendalâs apartment.IsmaÃ«l spends the entire night awake; in the morning he meets Erwann, Gwendalâs younger brother, who before leaving for school offers him his room so he can sleep in his bed. When Erwann returns and wakes IsmaÃ«l up he borrows some clean clothes from Erwann and leaves for work. When he returns from it he is secretly followed then met by Erwann who asks him if he can go home with him; IsmaÃ«l rejects this. He gets to his apartment to find Jeanne still there, which annoys him and he goes to Erwannâs apartment to spend the night there again.At a lunch with Julieâs family next day IsmaÃ«l rejects an offer to her life insurance money from her father. At night he takes Maude, a waitress from the bar he used to go to with Julie and Alice, for a one-night stand to his apartment.They wake up at noon to realize that Jeanne is present: IsmaÃ«l leaves and Jeanne is disappointed when she finds out the girl is not Alice. IsmaÃ«l goes to work to find Erwann waiting for him; he tells Erwann that he is flattered by his attention but neither interested nor in need of him. Alice, having broken up with Gwendal, thinks Erwan had been sent there to pick up their apartment keys; she gives them to IsmaÃ«l to pass them on to Erwann. Leaving work IsmaÃ«l finds Erwann waiting for him again; he gives him the keys then takes them back and they both go to IsmaÃ«lâs apartment. Meanwhile, Alice receives a phone call from Julieâs mother; the two of them meet at a restaurant, where Julieâs mother asks her to take care of IsmaÃ«l. Jasmine, Julieâs other sister, comes to tell her mother that her father is upset that she isnât at home so late at night, so she leaves, leaving Alice and Jasmine talking alone for a while.In IsmaÃ«lâs apartment he and Erwann make love; in the morning Jeanne finds them in bed together and leaves again. IsmaÃ«l follows her; Jeanne says that now she understands why he and Julie were in a threesome with Alice and why he didnât want to have kids; they argue until IsmaÃ«l leaves. Erwann goes to look for IsmaÃ«l in his office, but not finding him talks to Alice, who asks him when he is leaving whether he and IsmaÃ«l are together, to which he replies that he hopes so. IsmaÃ«l is in the meantime in the cemetery visiting Julie's grave; the following song is sung as if by Julieâs ghost, asking IsmaÃ«l why it had taken him so long to visit her. After leaving the cemetery IsmaÃ«l walks despondently through the city and gets drunk; Alice comes across him and takes him to Erwannâs apartment. IsmaÃ«l and Erwann argue about whether their relationship should continue and the movie ends with IsmaÃ«l kissing Erwann and asking him to love him less but for a long time.
Output: Question: Who works with Ismael?, Answer: Alice