Let Joy Reign Supreme

Noiret stars as Philippe D'Orleans, an aesthetically minded regent to the young Louis XV. Though Noiret holds power in early 18th-century France, he has no real standing in the royal scheme of things, though he tries his best to keep his countrymen cultured and content and thus delay a peasant uprising. Gradually, however, rage grows in the servile class. Noiret tries to avoid violence by teaming with Marielle, a power-hungry priest with no concern for God or man. The regent then is shaken by the death of his daughter, with whom he has been accused of incest. He becomes embittered when he is forced to execute a group of revolutionaries, but the finale makes it quit...