The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.

The notary Tremplin wants to give his daughter to the young rich farmer Adhemar. He goes with both of them to Paris where Henriette meets a sleazy car salesman who is precisely the rich heir sought by her father.

Cochu, a simple soldier, is mistakenly believed to be a rich heir which causes many problems.

Bariole gives cheap singing lessons, which annoys the official teachers.

Talkie remake of a 1927 silent about the adventures of the notorious womaniser and venetian adventurer Chevalier Giacomo Casanova. Action starts in Venice and then the plot takes Casanova to France and Russia.

While walking back home at night, an examining judge is robbed of his watch. Fortunately he offers resistance and, by roughing up the mugger, manages to recover his belonging. Imagine his surprise when he realizes his thief is none other than... the President of the Court of Justice! How will the poor man behave with him knowing what he knows?

While he was about to end his life, Baron de Cantenac wanted to return one last time to the land of his ancestors. He then discovers a treasure that he will strive to use to revive his village.

A young woman's comfortable life with her boyfriend is disrupted when he leaves for military duty, entrusting her to a playboy friend seeking a fake marriage for inheritance. Complications arise as a prince enters the scene, pursuing her romantically.

Anne seeks revenge on Jacques who betrayed her trust. She decides to poison him and the people close to him.

Paul Braconnier and his wife Blandine only have one thing in mind: to find a way to kill each other without risk. After listening to a radio show, Paul decides to go to Paris to meet a famous lawyer in the acquittal of the murderers. He tells the lawyer that he killed his wife. The lawyer asks Paul to reconstruct the circumstances of the drama. Without knowing it, he explains, in spite of himself, the way for Paul to murder his wife by putting the odds on his side to avoid death penalty or even be released...

Cock-eyed reporter Georges Masse enjoys a peaceful vacation in Venice. Which does not please his boss as he is not supposed to be... in vacation! P'tit Louis, Georges' blundering but faithful photographer, is sent to Venice with a mission: pull up his socks. But Georges is not so dormant as he appears. Behind the scenes, he investigates the activities of a gang that cleans out Venice. Quite logically, he soon finds himself face to face with a bunch of shady brutal characters, among whom Zélos, a Greek nightclub owner, and Alessandro Cassidi, a powerful motor manufacturer married to the alluring Clara, twice younger than he is...

Jean-Gaspard Deburau is a very successful mime, the most famous in his category. One day, he falls head over heels in love with Marie Duplessis, a courtesan better known as "La Dame aux Camélias". But he soon realizes that he is but a number in her long list of lovers. He will find comfort in devoting his time teaching his art to his son Charles.

It centres on the life of the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre and his total devotion to studying insect behavior, travelling from Avignon to Paris, from Paris to his death in Sérignan. He is honoured by the French president Raymond Poincaré and his patience, obstinacy and knowledge are also recognised by Napoleon III, the publisher Charles Delagrave and the philosopher John Stuart Mill. They reach their climax in his book, Souvenirs entomologiques.

Jean Larivière receives an impromptu visit from his future father-in-law while Lina, his mistress, learning of his marriage, has come to make a scene. The baron is seduced by Lina, and Jean, noticing that Angélique, his fiancée, is not so bad after all, is very happy to marry her.