300 years of French history are conveyed through the lives of those who lived at Versailles, with no stone left unturned-and no skeleton left in the closet. Guitry fuses historical fact from the words of those who were there with choice gossip from those who wished they had been. It is all sumptuously presented with wit and charm, from Louis XV (Jean Marais) romping with the children in the gardens to the affair of the necklace. Along the way we meet Orson Welles as Benjamin Franklin, Gérard Philipe as d'Artagnan...Brigitte Bardot as a courtesan, and Edith Piaf as a revolutionary singing "!Acedil;a ira" to spur on the marching women of Versailles. The cast of hundreds includes every prominent name in the theater and cinema who could or would work with Guitry during the months he was shooting at Versailles. The film outraged the historians and royalists. The public loved it.-Toronto Film Festival '89