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.
Jean-Marie Patte
as Louis XIV
Raymond Jourdan
as Jean Baptiste Colbert
Silvagni
as Cardinal Mazarin
Katharina Renn
as Anne d'Autriche
Dominique Vincent
as Madame Du Plessis
Pierre Barrat
as Nicolas Fouquet
Fernand Fabre
as Michel Le Tellier
Françoise Ponty
as Louise de la Vallière
Joëlle Laugeois
as Marie-Thérèse
Maurice Barrier
as D'Artagnan
André Dumas
as Le Père Joly
François Mirante
as M. de Brienne
