Episode one starts with a sequence involving a young man and a young woman running in slow motion along a hall of mirrors. They then take their clothes off and have sex. It is a dream.
Versailles is about Louis XIV, an absolute monarch and how he sets building his dream palace. All the time there are plots against him from noblemen and foreigners, he needs to maximise tax revenues and find time to have much sex as possible.
Then again the current Queen is pregnant and not exactly keeping Louis satisfied. She does deliver a surprise ending.
This hedonistic drama did not go for quiet contemplation of Wolf Hall the BBC series about the Tudor court. It takes its cue from Games of Thrones. There is intrigue and lots of nudity, sex and violence. One conspirator gets hammered literally. A cross dressing prince is giving fellatio to another man. The show is setting out its stall. This is French art, sumptuous and sensual but also equally dull.
The main problem with the first episode was that too many actors looked the same, you were wondering just who was who.