Versailles, 1780. The Court of Louis XVI and its antechambers with their blend of power and hope: the power of the ministers and great men of the kingdom, the hope of hundreds of supplicants from the lower nobility. Everything is given at Versailles: orders, ribbons and crosses with pensions, honorary titles and administrative missions... Since the number of privileges is modest compared to the number of supplicants, a stock exchange of respect is founded where each man has his value. What else other than Wit can alter these values in a sophisticated and idle society...
