Filmed between 1973 and 1975, L’Olivier was produced by the Vincennes Cinema Group. This activist collective of teachers and filmmakers, formed on the occasion of this film, attempts to explain the Palestinian problem through interviews. The Olivier was one of the first films to attempt to give substance to what was still largely ignored in the West: the existence of the Palestinian people and their fight to recover their rights. L'Olivier responds to a concern: the already weak support of French public opinion for the Palestinian cause diminished following the Munich operation of 1972. Structured in such a way as to tell the Palestinian story and explain the state of the struggle at the time, the film appeals to global militant solidarity and, in particular, to European political commitments.

A few stories are mixed, but all starts with Claire who one day brings back to Gregoire one of his books found at the university. Gregoire is the tenebrous romantic king, and Claire falls in love with him. But there is also Gregoire's circle, his disturbing neighbour, his maybe crazy grandmother Diane, his former teacher Hugo. And this is mixed up with Sebastien's attempts to seduce Claire then her mother Anne. And also Claire's psychiatrist.