The film is set in 1910; the story beginning by documenting the flooding of the River Seine that year.A shy projectionist Emile Petit has a passion for film and is in love with his co-worker at the cinema, Maud. His friend, an exuberant yet obnoxious inventor and delivery driver, Raoul, picks him up from work to transport him in his bizarre vehicle (called “Catherine”), to obtain a new belt for his projector. In purchasing a new belt, Emile also buys himself a new camera, which would’ve been stolen by a local thief had “Catherine” not malfunctioned. The story also introduces Lucille, a cabaret singer at the club L’Oiseau Rare (“The Rare Bird”) and Raoul’s childhood friend with whom he is on bad terms.A Monster in Paris 2011.
Her aunt Carlotta is trying to marry her off to the wealthy Police Commissioner and Mayor candidate, Victor Maynott. One evening, Raoul brings Emile to make a delivery to the Botanical Gardens. In the absence of the Professor who works there, the place is guarded by his assistant, a proboscis monkey named Charles. Here, Raoul experiments with an “Atomize-a-Tune” mixture which temporarily gives Charles the voice of an opera singer and an unstable “super fertilizer” which instantly grows a sunflower seed into a giant sunflower, which topples towards Raoul and Emile. In the ensuing disorder, an explosion occurs when the two chemicals are mixed. Everyone is unscathed, but Emile is convinced he has glimpsed a monstrous creature, a photo of which later appears in the newspapers.An investigation is launched into the whereabouts of the creature by Maynott’s second in command, Pâté, but is fronted by Maynott, in the hope of popular support for his mayoral candidacy. At the same time he tries unsuccessfully to charm Lucille. Meanwhile, Lucille is trying to find a new musician for her show, and turns down the cabaret’s waiter, Albert.