In 1968, Philippe de Broca shot this delightful comedy at Fléchères, aided by a dazzling cast: Madeleine Renaud, Yves Montand, Maria Schell, Marthe Keller, Jean Rochefort, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Pieplu, etc.

To save her château from ruin, a Marquess and her family decide to become hotel keepers. When a fugitive hides with them after a bank hold-up, they aim to kill him to steal the loot, but, of course, it all ends happily, love triumphs and the château is restored.

Amazingly, four years after the film was shot, a notorious fugitive, Joanny Chavel, the "brains" of the famous "Lyon Gang", was for several months the tenant of the château. In 1973 he organised several parties notorious in the annals of Lyon, before mysteriously disappearing.

There is a longstanding belief that he hid in the château his share of the loot from the Great Train Robbery of Strasbourg (11 millions Francs in 1971!) and in the 1980s, several walls and floors were pulled apart in the search for the mythical treasure...

In July 2009, the Marquise de Brinvilliers, a famous poisoner at the time of Louis XIV, was reincarnated at Fléchères in the shape of the actress Anne Parillaud.

For 15 days, the director Edouard Niermans besieged the château with a team of 80 people, 40 extras, hundreds of costumes, lorry-loads of furniture, a carriage, horses, dogs, geese and chickens...
In spite of the crowds and bustle, the organisation was perfect and no harm was done.

Some splendid scenes were shot at Fléchères, dramatic (the slow poisoning of the Marquess's father) or spectacular (an evening in the gaming room with innumerable extras, magnificently dressed, bewigged and made up).
The television film, produced by Geteve and France 2, will be shown in two episodes in the spring of 2010.