Guitry has a rare ability to deliver biting commentary on trivial matters like justice, but especially on the tired characterizations that keep us from seeing decency in someone who steals or the lack of responsibility in a wealthy person. It’s unusual to find yourself sympathizing with a thief who might kill you! And even more rarely do we put ourselves in a position where we've suggested it to them just before they decide to end their own life, which is why what follows feels so unprecedented: becoming an accessory to our own meticulously planned murder, relying on chance and our own lack of concern, since we don’t even know the person who has unexpectedly arrived to carry out our plans. This unlikely meeting allows for two things: first, it provides a detailed look at Philippe's character, revealing how his history of lies led him beyond comedy and toward absurdity in his actual life; second, it lets us see the strange but genuine reasoning behind why Philippe d’Artois, who is contemplating suicide, finds it amusing that fate takes charge during important moments in his life—a pattern that started long ago and paradoxically continued when he began to question his conscience on a Deauville beach after saving the beautiful Madeleine. This was followed by an increasingly frantic search – though not overtly so – through various hotels rated 5, 4, and 3 stars until he reunited with Jean, a childhood friend. The film is a self-aware farce: a criminal avoiding routine in his crime, a man planning suicide who negotiates the price for it, accepting 200,000 francs instead of 300,000 because having that much cash at home would be too risky. Guitry orchestrates this complicated situation brilliantly; while the lovers, Madeleine and Philippe, entertain themselves by inventing new schemes to deceive Jean, all the commotion will ultimately lead to their exposure during the night when Jean and Madeleine’s residence in the 16th District was burglarized. Philippe, already discovered by the betrayed Jean and escaping through the curtains, shoots Jean and cleverly leaves the pistol with the unknown thief who had just started searching another part of the large house. Thanks to his chaotic but ridiculous escape, he crashes into a tree and ends up in the hospital where he encounters Princess Gorochenko, a kleptomaniac who steals salt shakers and silverware; an elderly couple who each believe the other is crazy; and a chaplain who makes comical faces at Philippe from across the table, convinced that Philippe is the one who’s unstable. Who could this thief be if not Albert Le Cagneux, who, after serving ten years for a crime he didn't commit—murder—will once again be declared innocent?

Source on TMDB