Delusions of Grandeur

A political satire set in 17th-century Spain, loosely based on the stage play "Ruy Blas" by Victor Hugo. Don Salluste de Bazan is the finance minister of Charles II, King of Spain. He is greedy, ruthless, and deceitful, and he secretly embezzles part of the taxes which he collects from the population. He is surprised when he is framed in a sex scandal, and publicly disgraced by the Queen consort Maria Anna of Neuburg. Salluste is stripped of his functions and condemned to retire to a monastery. He plots his revenge by planning to involve Maria Anna in a sex scandal of her own, and tries to orchestrate her seduction by his former valet Blaze who is genuinely in love with her. To Salluste's surprise, Blaze rescues the king from an assassination attempt and becomes a political favorite of the queen. As a political struggle between the royal couple and the nobility starts taking place, Salluste is still obsessed with his petty plans for revenge despite his inability to control any of the players in this political game or to accurately predict their own plans.