Ce diable d'homme — Season 1, Episode 3: Episode 3
Comedy, Family, Drama, Documentary • 55 min • 1 season, 6 episodes
Episode synopsis
Trained in the school of English and French philosophers and fond of surrounding himself with brilliant minds, Frederick II spares no intrigue to enjoy Voltaire’s company. He manages to overcome the resistance of Émilie, Marquise du Châtelet, who keeps her protégé at Cirey so that he may complete his great work The Age of Louis XIV. Defying the warnings of his mistress and the king’s anger, he joins his princely admirer. But once crowned King of Prussia in 1740, Frederick II—far from following the political advice of his guest—treats him in a most uncivil manner. Voltaire returns to France, where, thanks to the intercession of d’Argenson and Madame de Pompadour with Louis XV, he is appointed official historiographer, made a gentleman of the king’s household, and—ironically enough—honored with the Pope’s blessing.
About Ce diable d'homme
This devil of a man plunges the viewer into the very heart of the Voltaire whirlwind, that incandescent mind who shook his century. The series follows his meteoric rise, his exiles, his battles and flashes of genius, in a Europe still tightly bound by absolutism. We discover an unbowed, charming, formidable man whose pen makes ministers, kings and fanatics tremble. Between glittering salons, damp prisons and passionate loves, Voltaire crosses the Age of Enlightenment like a meteor. Each episode reveals a confrontation, a flight, a victory wrested through the sheer force of intellect. Carried by elegant direction and a sweeping, novelistic energy, the series paints a vibrant portrait of a fighter for freedom. A journey into the life of a man who never stopped thinking, loving and provoking.