Comedy of Innocence

Camille is a child living with his parents Ariane and Pierre and their housekeeper Hélène. He is deeply attached to a video-cassette camera and often speaks of a friend named Alexandre, whom he meets with regularly. During his birthday dinner, he asks Ariane if she was present at his birth, and she affirms it while recalling details.

Pierre leaves on business and is absent for the rest of the film apart from fleeting phone conversations with Ariane. In his absence, Ariane turns to her brother Serge, a psychiatrist, for help.

After spending an afternoon in the park with Hélène, Camille demands that he be brought to his true home. Confused and upset, Ariane wonders what he means, and Hélène insists everything was normal until Ariane arrived. Ariane agrees to take Camille home.

At the home Camille brings them to, the caretaker Laurence reveals that the young boy on the wall drowned years earlier—that boy was Paul, Isabelle's son. Camille asserts that his real name is Paul, deepening Ariane's confusion. Camille bonds with Isabelle, and Ariane reluctantly agrees to leave Camille there for the night.

Back at Isabelle's home, Camille starts calling Ariane by her name, not as 'mummy', and seems to form a closer bond with Isabelle. Serge presses Camille to acknowledge that Ariane is his mother, but Camille refuses. The next day, the trio return to Ariane's house, where tensions over custody begin to surface.

Camille continues to resist being claimed as Ariane's son; Serge sits with Camille and asserts his proper name and mother. Camille runs away rather than comply. Ariane, Isabelle, and Serge chase after him, and Ariane becomes visibly angry, vowing she will not let Isabelle steal her son.

Isabelle moves her belongings into Ariane's large home, signaling how far the two women will go to claim Camille. Isabelle reveals she had no family of her own before Camille's arrival, highlighting the growing tension over who should raise him.

The next day Camille is told that Isabelle is waiting downstairs and that they must leave; Serge drives Isabelle to a hospital, where Camille is supposedly held. Upon arrival, Isabelle realizes the place is a mental institution. Serge confronts her and warns that she will not be allowed to leave unless admitted.

Back at home, Ariane receives a call from Serge that Camille has been dropped off but cannot be found. She locates him in the garden; Camille accuses Ariane of lying and runs away again. Meanwhile, Isabelle is nowhere to be found at the hospital, provoking Serge's anger.

Alexandre, the boy Ariane once thought was Camille's imaginary friend, appears and warns that Camille is in danger. He explains that Camille has been haunted by a ghost named Paul and passes Camille's possessions to Ariane for safekeeping if trouble arises. Isabelle later opens Camille's bag and discovers cassette tapes showing her attempts to convince Camille he is Paul and her son.

Ariane pieces together that Camille is with Isabelle on a barge near the canal where Paul drowned. Serge drives to the barge to reclaim Camille, arriving as Isabelle is about to leave with him in a taxi. Camille appears ready to go with his real mother, signaling a turning point in the custody struggle.

The film ends with a newly damaged painting, The Judgment of Solomon, hanging in Ariane's dining room, symbolizing the conflict between two mothers over one child. Pierre calls to say he is coming home, and Ariane explains that a father is needed and that Camille's anxiety is understood. The future remains open as Camille's fate is left with Isabelle as his mother.