Les Aristos (2006)
Directed by Charlotte de Turckheim

Film Synopsis

Count Charles Valerand d'Arbac de Neuville is the latest in a long line of aristocrats to have lived in a château that dates back a thousand years.  He and his wife Solange are proud of their noble ancestry and have every intention of passing their magnificent home onto their descendents.  Unfortunately, the family's finances have dwindled somewhat over the past century and now they can barely afford the upkeep of the grand old building.  It is an unwritten rule of the d'Arbacs never to work for a living, so the family must raise money by more dubious means, such as palming off tourists with fake items of furniture.  Then comes the fatal day when a bailiff turns up with a request for just under two million euros in payment for back taxes!

If the family is unable to pay the required amount within a specified time, all of their goods will be seized by the state and auctioned off.  Faced with what is undoubtedly the greatest crisis in the family's history, no avenue is left unexplored in the frantic attempt to find the money to pay the unexpected tax bill.  When all else fails, there remains one last desperate course.  The eldest son, Charles-Antoine, will have to marry Marie-Astrid Saumur-Chantilly de Fortemure, the heiress to a vast fortune.  There are just two objections to this plan, as far as Charles-Antoine sees it: first, he has already lost his heart to another woman, his beloved Pauline; second, Marie-Astrid is just about the ugliest and most unpleasant person in the land...