"The seemingly irrelevant question that serves as the starting point for this highly unusual filmic experiment is whether or not a woman will light up a cigarette. The fate of nine characters (all played by Sabine Azéma and Pierre Arditi) depends on whether Celia Teasdale does or does not yield to temptation. Set in the English provincial backwater of Hutton Buscel, the films' main characters are the headmaster of the local school, his wife, her daily help, a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, a gardener, a poet, a mother-in-law, and another headmistress. Smoking and No Smoking are based on six linked theatrical pieces written by Alan Ayckbourn in 1982. For all its unpredictability and thematic richness, Resnais repeatedly manages to bring the strands of this highly original plot together. Altogether the two films have twelve different endings." (Berlin Film Festival) "A postmodern meditation on a soap opera...subtle, sophisticated, and exhilarating." (San Francisco International Film Festival)