L’dawn of July 5, 1845 opens an eye on a languid Paris. Léonie Biard, 25, and Victor Hugo, 43, sleep tenderly entwined in the bachelor apartment that the brand new peer of France has just rented in the Saint-Roch passage. Poor poet, he has to console himself: his wife, Adèle, has refused him for a long time, and his mistress, Juliette Drouet, has become for him as banal as a second wife. The night was exhausting, even for a fiery forty-something Victor.
In short, Victor and Léonie are sleeping peacefully when they are suddenly awakened by an avalanche of knocks against the door. They are panicked. “In the name of the king, open the door!” they hear yelling. They look at each other again, this time in dismay, because they realize that someone who knocks like the deaf is not…