In 2058, climatic conditions are being affected by the return of Halley's Comet, and France is being swept by an AIDS-style disease which is spread by couples who have sex without being in love.
Despite the minimally evoked science fiction setting, French movie brat Leos Carax's film is essentially an Art Movie that dawdles its way through a Rififi heist plot as punk Denis Lavant is recruited by a gang of crooks to plan and execute a daring heist, the object of the robbery being a serum which can cure the disease.
With a pair of achingly beautiful actresses (Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy) thrown away in undercharacterised girlfriend roles and some understated playing from old pros Michel Piccoli and Hans Meyer, this is an uninvolving, posy adolescent's movie that takes forever to get around to its climax.