Jean Coste

After five years in the army, Valentin Brû marry a haberdasher. They move to Paris, where Valentin sells frames, while his wife becomes fortune teller. One day, Valentin replaces her, and predict a terrible event which will happen.

Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum in which the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Superintendant who has been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power and overplays his hand by offering a bribe to Louis' mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed. Years later, in a coda, we see Louis exercizing the power of the sun.

Wine Cellars itself is a Spanish-French co-production. He shot the film in the Paris studios and also in Spain, Andalusia and Seville. According to the critics, his story of love, honour, revenge, bulls and vineyards masterfully captures the spirit of this region, the sun beating down on the parched earth, life on the farms and vineyards and the celebrations coloured by the famous flamenco dance. Wine Cellars was originally a silent film and its soundtrack was only added later.