The second of director Bernard Tavernier's first three critically acclaimed films, this historical costume drama was the winner of four Cesars. Philippe Noiret stars as Philippe d'Orleans, regent to the young King Louis XV in 1719, four years after Louis XIV's death. A humanist and free thinker, Philippe serves during a time of rebellious talk and famine, swimming against the tide of social upheaval to maintain the status quo by allying himself with Pontallec (Jean-Pierre Marielle), an atheistic and power-hungry priest trying to take advantage of the turbulence to ascend to archbishop. The death of his daughter, with whom he was accused of committing incest, and his forced execution of some revolutionaries embitter Philippe, who begins to forsee no future for France without class warfare. The musical score of Que la Fete Commence. . . (1997) was composed by the real-life Philippe d'Orleans.