The Baby of Mâcon

In the mid-17th century, the town of Mâcon is struck by famine and infertility. A woman in labor seems to deliver a false birth due to the mother’s advanced years, but she eventually gives birth to a healthy boy. The moment marks the start of a mythic belief in a miraculous child who could change fortunes.

The Father immediately seeks to profit from the newborn by selling potions and wares that promise cures. The elder Daughter spots an opportunity to grow rich by using the Child’s supposed powers. The early greed plants the seeds for a darker enterprise surrounding the infant.

Years pass, and the Daughter persuades the town that the Child is her own virgin-born offspring. To protect her virtue, she engineers the Child’s presence as a sacred blessing rather than a mere birth. The community increasingly treats the Child as a holy figure.

Gifts pour in from the faithful, and a cult forms around the Child. The Daughter trades the Child’s supposed blessings for livestock and riches, turning devotion into a merchant enterprise. The Mother and Father are kept bound to the scheme as witnesses to the miracle.

The Daughter imprisons her parents, the wet nurse, and a young girl she has made a sexual slave for her husband. The Child remains under the Daughter’s guardianship as the cult grows. The household becomes a cage in service of power and wealth.

The Bishop senses a blasphemous threat in the Daughter’s claims and the Child’s power. The Bishop’s Son debates whether the Child belongs to the Daughter or the Mother, exposing the moral ambiguity surrounding the miracle. Tension rises as religious authority confronts the harvest of wealth and power.

In a bid to prove the Daughter’s virgin claim, she releases the imprisoned Mother and Father, but the Bishop’s Son remains unconvinced. The attempt to display virtue fails to persuade the crowd and only deepens the suspicion. The Daughter’s narrative begins to crack under pressure.

The Daughter lures the Bishop’s Son to the farm where she keeps her livestock and offers her virginity. The Child unexpectedly intervenes, using his power to urge a sacred bull to gore the Bishop’s Son. The Daughter is warned not to kill the bull, as the punishment will be severe.

The Daughter kills the bull and the townspeople finally discover the true nature of the Child and the ruse. The Bishop seizes custody of the Child, asserting control over the alleged miracle. The crisis shifts from spiritual to legal and social control.

The Bishop begins to auction the Child’s fluids—holy tears and blood—as valuable commodities. Suspicions of torture emerge as villagers profit from the Child’s supposed gifts. The marketplace becomes a shrine to greed as moral lines blur.

In a macabre ruse, the Daughter is subjected to a staged rape under a curtained canopy, while the court outside counts the tally. The assault actually takes place, and the Daughter dies from the trauma long before any formal execution could occur. The scene shatters the town’s sense of virtue and control.

The Bishop orders the Daughter’s execution, but she is already dead. In the wake of her death, the townspeople strip the Child’s relics and then dismember his body, hoping to steal his power for themselves. Famine returns to Mâcon as the story closes, while the court among the witnesses bows to the camera, acknowledging their complicity.