France, 1719.  Four years after the death of the Sun King Louis XIV, the reins of power are held by the regent, Philippe d’Orléans.  Both libertarian and libertine, the regent is a man of profound contradictions.  He sympathises with the plight of his people, agonises over the state of his country – which is close to bankruptcy – but is powerless to change things.  His right-hand man is the ambitious Abbé Dubois, a man of even lower moral standards, a devout atheist who blasphemes at the altar by day and indulges in the most obscene orgies by night.   Meanwhile, the Marquis de Pontcallec, an impoverished noble, is stirring up an uprising in Brittany, in protest against the imposition of heavy taxes and the violation of a treaty between the province and France.  To appease the English and further his own ambitions to become archbishop, Dubois coerces Philippe d’Orléans into quashing the rebellion and executing Pontcallec...