Working as an usherette at a porn cinema, Simone (Ingrid Bourgoin) squabbles with her colleague as they welcome their peculiar clientele. After her shift, she waits for her girlfriend at a lesbian nightclub full of eccentric characters, before sharing a slow drive home with a stranger. Produced by Paul Vecchiali’s Diagonale (Rosa la rose, fille publique), Marie-Claude Treilhou’s mercurial triptych is rich in style, funny detail, and heady atmosphere. Queer for the marginal stories it tells and for its offbeat, aesthetic blend of irony and sincerity, Simone Barbès or Virtue is a gem of the post-post-New Wave, capturing both the thrilling possibilities and compelling absurdities of nighttime Paris.