The movie industry has often been called a dream factory...On the factory side: There´s the director, Gaspard Bazin, who´s planning his movie and is casting for minor roles and extras. On the factory side: There´s Jean Almereyda, the producer who has had his hour of glory and is having more and more trouble getting the money for his productions. Between them is Eurydice, Almereyda´s wife, who wants to find out if she can be an actress. While Almeereyda is looking for the money to finance his movie - and risking his life to do it because the cash he´s been promised doesn´t smell too good - Gaspard is casting Eurydice. Making a movie is as much the art of finding a beautiful face to put on the screen as it is of finding the money to buy the film. 'The Rise and Fall' tells a part of this story. But it´s also the story of the artist and his extras, technicians and all of the obscure figures who in obscure theatres are now working in television.