Clerambard

In a crumbling medieval castle, the penniless Count of Clérembard rules with fear over his wife, his son Octave, and his mother-in-law. Their income comes from knitting pullovers and what the Count can shoot for meat, leaving them hungry and dependent. The castle's grandeur has faded into tyranny and want.

The local lawyer Galuchon offers a solution: he will clear the Count’s mounting debts if Octave agrees to marry Galuchon’s daughter. Galuchon has three daughters—the eldest is described as a fright, the middle as pretty, and the youngest as a beauty—and the arrangement is set up to resolve the Count’s problems through marriage.

Octave resists the deal, declaring his love for La Langouste, the town’s prostitute. He has never been able to afford her, but his heart pulls him toward a life beyond the castle gates.

Gustalin, a neighboring farmer fed up with his lost livestock, dresses as St Francis of Assisi and confronts the Count, presenting him with a book of the saint’s deeds. The gesture is meant to awaken the Count to a different, humbler path.

Reading the saint’s deeds inspires the Count to renounce worldly goods and sell the castle to Galuchon. He decides to take to the road with his family in a gypsy caravan, embracing poverty and a simple life close to nature.

Emboldened by his experience with La Langouste, Octave begins to imagine marrying her. La Langouste, half-convinced about retiring from her trade, offers Octave a free session as a sign of her tentative commitment.

Galuchon arrives to sign the deed for the castle’s sale and brings his three daughters. The moment marks a formal turning point as the old arrangement collides with new desires.

Emboldened by La Langouste’s influence, Octave takes Galuchon’s youngest daughter into the caravan and later tells Galuchon that he will marry her in return for an annual allowance.

The Count expresses sorrow that La Langouste has been jilted, but he allows her to join them in the caravan anyway. He seems ready to embrace the new life they will share on the road.

Gustalin reappears to apologize for having misled the Count about the plan, and the Count, though he has lost his castle, is set on a hopeful, new life on the road.

In the town square, two angels harness the Count’s horse to the caravan and the townspeople join the procession as they head out into the countryside. The exit marks a radical shift from tyranny to a communal, nomadic life.