The film begins with an introduction of several characters walking different, but sometimes intersecting life paths. Anne, an actress working in Paris (Juliette Binoche) is taking a stroll with Jean, her boyfriend’s younger brother, who insults a begging Roman lady Marie by throwing her some garbage instead of change. The scene is noticed by Amadou, a teacher of deaf children, who starts to argue with Jean. This incident develops into a multi-thread story, through which Haneke presents a mosaic of modern Europe, a continent of social inequalities and racial problems. Code Unknown was the director’s first film in French.