Ridicule

“Wit is the ultimate weapon.”

Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy (Charles Berling) is a poor lord from the marshes who wants one thing, the king's backing to drain the swamps that are killing his tenants. To reach the king he must get into Versailles, where the Marquis de Bellegarde (Jean Rochefort) judges a stranger by his wit. Patrice Leconte shows a court where one cruel, well-timed remark can lift a man or ruin him, and where nobody there seems to mind who gets hurt.