Two aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit their recently deceased partner's son to help them break into a laboratory and steal the vaccine against STBO, a sexually transmitted disease that is sweeping the country. It's spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of its victims are teenagers who make love out of curiosity rather than commitment.
Mauvais Sang is at core a crime movie, but the crime serves only as a skeleton. The flesh is the passion of unrequited love and the cerebral processing of the same. Lise loves Alex who loves Anna that loves Mark. Mark, on the other hand, is afraid of The American Woman who was once lovers with Alex father and who will kill him unless he pays the debts of himself and his companions within two weeks. In the nerve system is the libido at hold as a strange virus affects untruthful lovers, which is also the device that cuts through the entire body of the movie. Finally on the skin is an abnormal heat wave caused by the vicinity of Haley's Comet. It is a full bodied movie, and as French as it is, the performance uses full body language as well. While there are a few exaggerated moments that may not appeal to all audiences, there are others that make well up for them.