Pierre Wesselrin, a German American resident in Paris, was born under the sign of Leo and therefore thinks that luck is on his side. This attitude seems to be confirmed right at the beginning, when the message of his rich aunt's decease is delivered. Wesselrin celebrates a big party, for which his friends pay the expenses, expecting that they will soon get their money back. At the end of the party he joyfully fires a rifle bullet at the starlit sky, being convinced that he has conquered the world and that from now on it will always be his.
The setback strikes him unexpectedly and reveals his state of utter helplessness and subjection in this world. His half-brother, who lives in Germany, is named only heir, and his rich Parisian friends abandon the capital one after the other in order to embark upon their sum-mer vacations. Now the dependence of the parasite on his fellow creatures is clearly shown: he has to rely on their kindness even if he wants nothing else but a roof over his head.
But as the hotel manageress isn't among these kind and generous friends, she denies him the right to stay. And there is no other hotel in which he could live just on terms of confidence. The only thing that is left for him to do is to roam about in the open air, on tourist tracks. Just that he gets infinitely more lonely than a tourist, the more his state of neglect progresses. And he can't help it either, as he is struck by quite a number of odd misfortunes: the spilling of a tin of sardines on his only trousers, the loss of a metro ticket, the disintegration of his footwear.
At this point Wesselrin suddenly starts fighting: he gets himself some turpentine from his last money, he desperately looks for some string which might hold his decomposing shoe together. But all kind of revolt against the inevitable is pointless, just as his stubbly beard is now allowed to grow without hindrance his descent into the depths of disaster is unstoppable and can only be subdued a little by the charitable acts of a few benefactors: A baker sells him the baguette for 6 francs instead of 9, a tramp lets him participate in his tourist show and saves Wesselrin from starvation that way, for he himself is literally incapable of doing anything, he doesn't even succeed in stealing an apple and is too proud to beg.
Therefore the final turning point (the half-brother dies in a car crash, and Wesselrin, who is literally lying in the gutter, is discovered by two friends) has actually to be seen more tragic than positive: Wesselrin hasn't learned anything from his experience and when he hears about the regained heritage he talks big again, like at the beginning of the movie. It seems just logical to him: Fortune can't do anything else but smile upon someone who was born under the sign of Leo.
The setback strikes him unexpectedly and reveals his state of utter helplessness and subjection in this world. His half-brother, who lives in Germany, is named only heir, and his rich Parisian friends abandon the capital one after the other in order to embark upon their sum-mer vacations. Now the dependence of the parasite on his fellow creatures is clearly shown: he has to rely on their kindness even if he wants nothing else but a roof over his head.
But as the hotel manageress isn't among these kind and generous friends, she denies him the right to stay. And there is no other hotel in which he could live just on terms of confidence. The only thing that is left for him to do is to roam about in the open air, on tourist tracks. Just that he gets infinitely more lonely than a tourist, the more his state of neglect progresses. And he can't help it either, as he is struck by quite a number of odd misfortunes: the spilling of a tin of sardines on his only trousers, the loss of a metro ticket, the disintegration of his footwear.
At this point Wesselrin suddenly starts fighting: he gets himself some turpentine from his last money, he desperately looks for some string which might hold his decomposing shoe together. But all kind of revolt against the inevitable is pointless, just as his stubbly beard is now allowed to grow without hindrance his descent into the depths of disaster is unstoppable and can only be subdued a little by the charitable acts of a few benefactors: A baker sells him the baguette for 6 francs instead of 9, a tramp lets him participate in his tourist show and saves Wesselrin from starvation that way, for he himself is literally incapable of doing anything, he doesn't even succeed in stealing an apple and is too proud to beg.
Therefore the final turning point (the half-brother dies in a car crash, and Wesselrin, who is literally lying in the gutter, is discovered by two friends) has actually to be seen more tragic than positive: Wesselrin hasn't learned anything from his experience and when he hears about the regained heritage he talks big again, like at the beginning of the movie. It seems just logical to him: Fortune can't do anything else but smile upon someone who was born under the sign of Leo.