(uncredited)
En el distrito de Saint-Paul, en Lyon, Michel Descombes, un relojero de mediana edad, lleva una tranquila y aburrida vida de soltero en compañía de Bernard, suhijo adolescente. Abandonado por su mujer muchos años antes, ha criado a su hijo sin ayuda de nadie. Pero la ordenada vida del relojero cambia el día que recibe la inesperada visita de la policía para darle una mala noticia.
Madame Henrietta
Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum in which the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Superintendant who has been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power and overplays his hand by offering a bribe to Louis' mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed.
