Monsieur Lange works for Batala's publishing house, feverishly writing adventure novels. One day, Batala leaves town to elude his creditors. Following a train wreck he is believed dead. His company, taken over and run cooperatively by the workers, begins to prosper. Lange has idyllic love affair with Valentine, a laundress who lives in the courtyard and was previously Batala's mistress. But the ignoble Batala, disguised as a priest, returns with the intention of resuming control of his company and dissolving the cooperative…… Quoting François Truffaut: "Here is another example of a phenomenon common in Renoir's work: in his concern for human truth, he creates a film which quickly enters into the realm of fantasy. Of all Renoir's films, M. Lange is the most spontaneous, the richest in miracles of camera work, the most full of pure beauty and truth. In short, it is a film touched by divine grace".

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