24 Bars on AllMovie

Four lost souls in search of a connection are brought together by fate on a quiet Christmas Eve in the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-director Jalil Lespert. It's the day before Christmas, and as bleach-blonde prostitute Helly (Lubna Azabal) wakes up next to an anonymous john, all she can think about is collecting her cash and scoring a fix. Humiliated by her pimp and denied visitation with her son until the following day, Helly collapses into the off-duty cab of unpredictable taxi driver Didier (Benoît Magimel) -- who has recently robbed his place of employment and now seeks to find a suitable female to pose as his fiancée. Generously compensating the damaged Helly for her valuable time, Didier and his temporary bride-to-be soon make their way to the hospital for a brief visit with the cabbie's comatose father. Later, Helly meets up with conflicted lesbian Marie (Bérangère Allaux) before hitting the disco with lonely and unstable bachelor Chris (Sami Bouajila). Years ago, Chris' father committed suicide after being severely criticized by jazz musician Marcus Briggs (Archie Shepp). Now, as Marie attempts to come to terms with her egocentric mother and Chris reels from an emotionally-charged encounter with Briggs, the night begins to fall and the hope for a better tomorrow is all that anyone has to cling to.