A couple attends the show of a marvelous, sensuous, and regal African American singer in Paris. The wife of the couple finds herself struggling for a grip as the pleasure of seeing this performer infiltrates her fortress of restraint.

During World War II in West Bengal, a Bengali grandmother and doll-crafter faces the atrocities of British colonial rule. Upon delivering a magical doll to the Governor of Kolkata, the grandmother seeks justice for these colonial cruelties and the death of her grandson.

A string quartet practices Mozart’s K. 590 in the common room of their apartment as the complex manager struggles to recover the fading beauty of the property from the indifferent forces of destruction.

An American man moves to Germany and falls in love with a married Norwegian woman in his language class. Their contrasting artistic tastes foretell a fundamental rift.

A man attends a classical music concert and uses it as a surrealistic form of escape as he copes with the news of his mother's death.

A man plays bridge on his night off with a few distant friends. Their conversation inspires a tipsy, failed attempt to steal from a drugstore. In this 20th century jail, his excitement turns to anger and doom as he reflects on his crumbling marriage, kids, and childhood.

In 1950s New York, a world-renowned female pianist develops a mysterious condition that leaves her unable to play. Forced to confront her unhappiness, she decides to rent a studio at Carnegie Hall to sort out her failing marriage and career.

After the collapse of civilization, a group of men meets weekly to read classic novels and listen to records on a portable phonograph, bringing them great joy but unbearable distress at remembering how the world used to be.

A piano tuner visits the home of a middle aged Creole woman who is struggling to move on from her parents’ death after having spent a majority of her youth looking after them. Over the course of multiple visits, the piano tuner convinces her to seek treatment for her depression.

When a young Australian woman meets an Indian immigrant at an electronica concert in Paris, a touching one-night stand allows the pair to bond over their isolation.