Ce diable d'homme — Season 1, Episode 5: Episode 5
Comedy, Family, Drama, Documentary • 55 min • 1 season, 6 episodes
Episode synopsis
Between Madame Denis, his niece and housekeeper — a strong woman whose charms he is not immune to — and Wagnière, his remarkable new secretary and friend, Voltaire sets out to write Candide. At the same time, this indefatigable man continues his quarrel with Jean‑Jacques Rousseau, contributes to The Encyclopaedia, and buys a new house in Ferney, soon to become Europe’s intellectual capital. Then a case breaks out that will cause a great stir. Voltaire learns that a Protestant from Toulouse, accused of killing his son for wanting to convert to Catholicism, has been broken on the wheel. Faced with a murky file, Voltaire reopens the investigation and, if not the man’s life, restores the honor of Calas.
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.