Clément Mégé decides to get married, and consults with a matrimonial agency. A suitable helpmeet is located in the plump Sarah Duhamel, and so they are wed. However, in leaving, they fall through an open manhole and wind up spending their wedding night -- indeed, the next nine month -- in a sewer.
European slapstick movies in this period made the stuff soon to be popularized by Mack Sennett and his followers look genteel in comparison. I often use 'bone breaking' to describe them, not to mention house-destroying and electrocution being frequent themes. This one, however, is downright disgusting, with rats a minor annoyance to the sleeping newlyweds.