Wonder Boys

Micha unwittingly becomes a German hero when a journalist portrays him as the mastermind behind the mass exodus from East Germany.

Fred, a twenty-something slacker, finds himself at a place where nothing has gone as planned. Forced out of his mother's home, he finds himself relegated to the guest bedroom of his successful, older brother. Over the blistering summer in North Carolina, he finds his only friend in Donnie, a surprisingly ambitious buffoon, who stands as his own biggest obstacle. Still clinging to aspirations of a career as a fiction writer, Fred finds his progress halted amid a new relationship with Mary, an impulsive, young woman. All who pass through Fred's life - from an old man with a fleeting mind to a young child ripe with innocence - stand as a reflection upon his own state of compromise and tolerance of a life he never wanted. Through his journey, he comes to the realization of the man he's supposed to be and all that he must endure along the way.

The whole Bélier family is deaf, except for sixteen year old Paula who is the important translator in her parents' day to day life especially when it comes to matters concerning the family farm. When her music teacher discovers she has a fantastic singing voice and she gets an opportunity to enter a big Radio France contest the whole family's future is set up for big changes.

France, World War II. In order to somehow make ends meet, the mother of two children, Marie Latour, does underground abortions and rents a room to a familiar prostitute. She doesn't pay any attention to her husband, who returned from the war because of his injury, and lives her own life. Abortions gradually begin to bring a good income, and boredom can be easily dispelled by starting up with a young lover.

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you? and "Where does the world come from?