On the occasion of the death of their beloved editor Arthur Howitzer, Jr., staffers of “The French Dispatch”, a widely circulated American magazine based in the French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé, convene to write his obituary.

Memories of the Kansas-born Howitzer flow into the creation of four stories: a travelogue of the seediest sections of the city itself from The Cycling Reporter; “The Concrete Masterpiece,” about a criminally insane painter, his guard and muse, and his ravenous dealers; “Revisions to a Manifesto,” a chronicle of love and death on the barricades at the height of student revolt; and “The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner,” a suspenseful tale of drugs, kidnapping and fine dining.

The film is included among the Oscar favourites for the best film of the year.