If you’re already familiar with Louis Feuillade, his little-known opus Vendémiaire may come as a surprise. Unlike the bulk of his work which was characterised as ‘Fantastic Realism’, Vendémiaire is wonderfully down-to-earth realism – or down-to-French-earth realism to be specific. The film itself is divided into four chapters, the titles of which suggest that this is a movie about the cultivation and consumption of wine. But as the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that the cultivation and consumption of wine is an allegory for French culture and French land as a whole, and the real purpose of the film is to persuade the director’s fellow citizens to defend that spirit and those lands at all costs. It’s September 1918 and the war is coming to an end, but here on the Castelviel estate in the south of France the news has not yet arrived and everyone is busy with the grape harvest....

Widow Simone d'Argentières lives in Neuilly with her son Jean and her friend Hélène Castillon, whose brother Georges wants to marry Simone. Both the chauffeur Pistol and the servant Malar are in love with the maid Prunette. Georges makes a deal with businessman Paramine in the hope of ending his financial troubles while Albert D'Amentières proposes to his sister-in-law Simone who declines arguing that she does not wish to give Jean a step-father. Hélène overhears this and repeats it to Georges who says in front of the servants: "What a shame she has a son'. Little Jean leaves for a vacation with old father Pailloux at the country. Gypsies settle near by and their leader Luigi meets Paramine who is here under the assumed name of Simon and gives him money. The next day, little Jean disappears.