In 1927 the Flemish author, Stijn Streuvels (1871-1969) wrote a story rich in action and dramatic incident. lts theme was fear of anything new and unknown. His famous compatriot, Hugo Claus, used this as the basis for his script for Fons Rademakers' film. Not only the heroine, Mira, but also the Flemish countryside is strikingly present.
A small town in the lean years immediately after the war. A family, the mother of which disappeared during the war in shameful circumstances, lives off the railway.
Keetje Tippel (Cathy Tippel) is a historical character, who lived in Amsterdam during the 19th century.
Keetje came from the northern province of Frisia, with her father, mother and small sisters. Continually beset by difficulties, she succeeds in working her way up from extreme poverty, to eventually find romance and wealth. Forced into prostitution by her mother, in later life she proves more than a match for the men in her life.
The portrait of a brief but tumultuous love affair between a young woman and a man about the same age, 30, whose style of life is utterly different. Pierre is a successful businessman, a 'modern conservative'. Toni is a hairdresser with a company of revue artists, living in a far less protected world. The people she moves among are different from Pierre's rather formal friends. They find it fairly easy to disregard existing norms. But Toni's non-conformism arouses Pierre's interest.
Comedy about an impoverished nobleman who changes places with his valet.
When the composer Pietro Cignoni meets Sylvia and Lyda, the daughters of barrister Gio Romano, he and Sylvia fall in love and eventually marry. Sylvia is unaware of how jealous her younger sister is. Even more jealous is the organist Rosni who for years has adored Sylvia in silence, not daring to ask her to marry him because he is a hunchback. Together Sylvia and Pietro enjoy five years of wedded bliss and are happy with their darling daughter, Renée. Then Sylvia notices that her eyesight is gradually failing and learns that only an operation can perhaps save her from total blindness.