Buffet Froid

The film opens at La Défense station where Alphonse Tram chats with an exhausted accountant. Tram offers him his bloodstained knife to calm him, an action that unsettles the man. After their exchange, the knife mysteriously disappears.

Later that night, Tram discovers the same man in a tunnel leading from another metro station, stabbed in the stomach with the knife. He cannot give a credible explanation to a puzzled police inspector. The scene marks a violent consequence linked to Tram.

Tram recounts the incident to Inspector Bernard, who is moving into a new apartment in an otherwise deserted condominium. He suspects the murder could be connected to the knife, rather than to Tram directly. The inspector, irritated by the off‑duty case, pushes Tram out and refuses to officially engage.

Soon after, a wave of strange events sweeps the city following Tram’s wife’s murder. The atmosphere grows tense as fear and curiosity swirl around him. The police struggle to contain the increasingly bizarre chain of occurrences.

Jean Carmet’s killer arrives at Tram’s apartment and confesses to the crime. The confession is treated lightly by both the inspector and Tram, and the three share a drink. The confession ties Tram to the murder in a way that complicates both his innocence and culpability.

Another man appears, claiming to have witnessed all events in the metro. His account adds a new dimension to the mystery and unsettles Tram further. The situation blurs lines between guilt, responsibility, and paranoia.

Following the confession, Tram goes to kill a man in a car, but the driver seems intent on ending his own life regardless. The encounter underscores how violence has spiraled beyond control. It leaves Tram more exposed to danger.

The widow of the man Tram killed is cared for by Tram, the inspector, and the murderer. When a doctor visits to treat her, she ends up sleeping with him, adding another twist to the tangled web. The care provided feels at once protective and morally ambiguous.

The three men depart for the countryside in search of peace away from the city. The quiet is short‑lived as danger seems to follow them. The idyll dissolves as events head toward a final confrontation.

Someone kills the murderer, mistaking him for Tram. The act exposes how quickly suspicion shifts and how violence can erase distinctions between perpetrator and victim. The pursuit tightens around Tram.

A pretty girl traps Tram and leads him onto a boat. He uses the opportunity to shake off the inspector’s pursuit. The setting shifts from land to water, heightening the sense of peril.

On the boat, Tram is shot by the girl, who is revealed to be the daughter of the man found dead in the metro. The inspector is also eliminated in the ensuing confrontation. The finale leaves Tram dead and the case unresolved.