A crowded family turns an enormous fertility burden into a comic contest for a hoped-for country house.
Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases
A House Full of Babies
The film introduces late-fifties France and a daughter living with her husband and parents. Seven children are already in the household, while an eighth is expected.
Key Events
Late-Fifties France — The story is set in France during the late 1950s, amid an ongoing baby boom.
Location: France
Crowded Family Household — A daughter and her husband continue living with her parents.
Location: The parents' home
Seven Children Already — The daughter and her husband have already had seven children.
Location: The family home
An Eighth Child Expected — The family is expecting an eighth child, increasing the household's pressure.
Location: The family home
A Father's Breaking Point
The father's exhaustion with the family's fertility becomes an important domestic tension. The expanding household establishes the pressure behind the later proposal.
Key Events
Father's Growing Frustration — The father becomes sick and tired of the family's continuing fertility.
Location: The family home
Industry Representative Arrives — A representative of childhood industries arrives with an unusual proposal.
Location: The family home
The Twelve-Grandchildren Offer
A childhood-industries representative proposes a contest involving twelve grandchildren before the father turns fifty. The prize could provide the country home that Parisians dream of owning.
Key Events
The Grandchildren Contest — The father is told he can win a large sum by having twelve grandchildren before turning fifty.
Location: The family home
The Country House Prize — The potential prize is enough to buy a house in the country, a major Parisian dream.
Location: Paris and the family home
Pressure To Continue — The father urges the daughter's husband to be prolific again despite the crowded household.
Location: The family home
Fertility Under Pressure
The father presses the daughter's husband to produce another child. The husband's fertility unexpectedly appears to fail when the contest makes further births valuable.
Key Events
Fertility Suddenly Fails — The husband's fertility appears to run dry precisely when another child is desired.
Location: The family home
The Prize In Jeopardy — The fertility problem threatens the twelve-grandchildren target and the hoped-for country house.
Location: The family home
The Dream At Risk
The apparent fertility crisis puts the twelve-grandchildren goal and the country-house prize in doubt. The synopsis frames this predicament as the film's central comic suspense.
Key Events
Comic Family Uncertainty — The synopsis leaves the family's attempt to reach the target as the central comic uncertainty.
Location: The family home
Story Breakdown
French Baby Boom — The late-fifties setting places the family within a continuing national birth boom.
Late-Fifties France — The story begins in France during the late 1950s.
Fertility Culture — The baby boom provides the social background for the family's predicament.
Crowded Family Home — Several generations share one household as the family continues to grow.
Parents And Couple — The daughter and her husband still live with her parents.
Seven Children — The couple already has seven children before the new challenge begins.
Another Child Expected — The expected eighth child intensifies the household's already substantial pressure.
Eighth Pregnancy — An eighth child is expected according to the synopsis.
Household Pressure — The continuing births make the living arrangement increasingly burdensome.
Father's Resistance — The father is tired of the family's fertility, creating the initial domestic conflict.
Growing Exhaustion — The father's patience is worn down by the expanding family.
Demand For More — Despite his frustration, the later prize encourages him to urge further fertility.
The Industry Contest — A representative introduces a financial incentive tied to the number of grandchildren.
Representative's Proposal — A childhood-industries representative offers the contest to the family.
Twelve Grandchildren — The stated condition is twelve grandchildren before the father turns fifty.
Country House Dream — The prize transforms family fertility into a possible route toward a longed-for home outside Paris.
Large Cash Prize — The contest promises a hefty sum of money.
Parisian Aspiration — The winnings would be enough to buy a house in the country.
Stéphane Petitbourgeois is having trouble with his son-in-law Hubert, who has an extra child every year and is expecting his ninth, making thirteen people in the same apartment. However, a competition promises twenty million to the youngest grandfather of twelve grandchildren. Stéphane begins to encourage Hubert. But Pat became sterile from that day on. Finally, after two years, a child is announced. In fact, triplets were born, and after a few twists and turns, Stéphane became the youngest grandfather of twelve grandchildren.
