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.
as Louis XIV
as Jean Baptiste Colbert
as Cardinal Mazarin
as Anne d'Autriche
as Madame Du Plessis
as Nicolas Fouquet
as Michel Le Tellier
as Louise de la Vallière
as Marie-Thérèse
as D'Artagnan
as Le Père Joly
as M. de Brienne
as L'apothicaire
as Le premier médecin
as Le deuxième médecin
as M. de Gesvres
as Le chef-cuisinier
as Mme de Motteville
as M. de Vardes
as M. de Soyecourt
as Monsieur
as Pierrette Dufour
as Le Vau
as L'assistant de Le Vau
as Mlle de Pons
as Le tailleur
as L'Archevèque
as Seguier
as M. de Guiche
as L'Ambassadeur
as Le 1er Chambellan
as Mlle de Chemerault
as Mme d'Elboeuf
as Mousquetaire
as Le patron marinier
as Marinier
as Marinier
as Marinier
as Une paysanne
as Messenger
as Madame Henrietta
as The Naiad
