[1] The 54-year-old Cheat writes his memoirs in a café, and at the age of 12, he is caught stealing money from the family grocery shop.

His parents, siblings, uncle and grandparents all die, and his mother's unscrupulous cousin takes charge of him, while using the inheritance for his own benefit.

In Paris, he is unwillingly drawn into a plot to assassinate the visiting Czar Nicholas II of Russia by fellow restaurant worker, Serge Abramich.

As an elevator operator in the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, the Cheat catches the eye of the much older Countess, and they have a brief fling.

After a stint in the army, the Cheat decides to take up a profession that rewards honesty: croupier in a casino in Monaco.

One day, while in disguise, he spots two women from his past, his former wife and the Jewel Thief together at a gambling table, evidently friends.

Most of the film takes place in flashback, with a voiceover narration by Guitry (in his role as the Cheat) in which he also speaks the dialogue of the other actors.

[2] Guitry also used the spoken word to present the actors and technicians as they are introduced on-camera at the start of the film, instead of the conventional printed credits.

In London, a reviewer for The Times commented on its elaborate narrative structure: "As always when the difficulties and disadvantages of a constricting technique are overcome, there is an effect of unity and precision which freedom cannot often give".