Les diamants de la victoire

Are women more intelligent than men? Probably so. Look no further than this film: both ravishing Graciane and angelic Audine de Chandrilles (Judith Davis) are more intelligent than their partners, Audine realizing from the start "Madame la Baronne" was an invention, and Graciane outsmarts all men around, not only French guards. Julie Judd, who is Graciane in this film, played naive honest "Laurence" here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528873/ and was hateable as a manipulative and ambitious fiancé of Frédéric Diefenthal in "Pas de panique" Also was in the girlie "30 something" TV series "Clara Scheller".

My favourite character by far is Belette, the pro thief (Gérard Loussine). Don't let his slovenly looks deceive you: he could stripe you of your wallet or open any "modern lock" faster than you read this sentence, so much even the police know they need him outside. Which reminds me a lot of Latin American police, thus making me paradoxically "relieved" into finding corruption is more widespread than I thougth :). The "Duc de Mauresquiel" is the posh version of the same character, funny as such. "Boivin de Bièvre" is a fun sidekick, who got in the job out of boredom: "my wife bores me, she's always playing with dolls. Well, she's 14 y.o.!" he exclaims, reminding us how forced marriages were so widespread even not many centuries ago.

Danton is another hidden gem: manipulative and ruthless as any demagogue from nowadays, he can nevertheless keep a promise, or sort of :).

Palaces are beautiful, plot is implausible but fun, if you like everything royal, do watch this farcical comedy, you won't regret it.