Hugo, a clothing buyer is a young hedonist who meets actress and prostitute Miriam in this erotic and violent drama. After heavy petting and foreplay throughout the Paris subway and a church, she takes him to an apartment for the sexual favors she has promised. Hugo is subjected to a humiliating emasculation and wanders dazed on the banks of the Seine following his ordeal. A young woman emerging from the river after swimming stabs herself to death, and the hapless Hugo is blamed for her murder. —Dan Pavlides