La caméra explore le temps

This is not a major historical event;it looks like a hoax ,a farce ,a vaudeville.

1812:Napoleon was in Russia ,and there was no telephone,no internet,the news took weeks to get to Paris;today ,such a plan could not be attempted .

The general Mallet was hostile to his emperor and,with the help of a priest ,a corporal and a naive poet ,he tried his luck at a coup d'Etat.He told Napoleon had been killed (through the heart) in Russia and that he had to take over the government.Some poor fools believed him and they began to release political prisoners and to throw the prefect of Paris ,the secretary of the interior and other 'legal" nuisance into Prison De La Force .When word leaked out that it was a conspiracy ,the usurpers were sentenced to death.

When HE returned,HE gave his government a roasting ,yelling at them: "even if I had been dead ,none of you had thought of the Roi De Rome ,my rightful heir!" François Maistre gives a mischievous portrayal of Mallet,with methods worthy of Arsene Lupin.