What if, tired of being mistreated by man, nature decides to rebel? This is the pitch of Abysses, a new series-disaster-event from France 2 against a backdrop of climate change. Lobsters punish a Basque chief to death, whales rebel against Canadian tourists who have come to admire them and here we are plunged with dread into the agonizing depths of the ocean. To get out of the fiction, we let ourselves be caught up by the riders of the Tour de France who have it under the pedal. And isn’t it high time to discover Barry, the series which paints an ironic portrait of Hollywood and which has just ended in the most total indifference? Finally, as a catch-up, a little guilty pleasure of which only Belgium has the secret…
“When nature takes revenge, it’s no longer time for prayers”, said the song by Chimène Badi that accompanied the release of the film The Day After in 2003. It’s a bit the leitmotif of Abysses, the big international co-production broadcast by France 2 since June 5th. France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Japan and Germany participated in this series at a pharaonic production cost (we are talking about a budget of 40 million euros). Led by Cécile de France, these eight episodes, adapted from the eponymous novel by Frank Schätzing (Presses de La Cité, 2009), tell how the planet must face the anger of the marine world which decides to rise up. This will arouse the curiosity of a heterogeneous army of scientists from all over the world interpreted, among others, by Leonie Benesch (The Crown, Around the World in 80 Days), Alexander Karim, Barbara Sukowa, Krista Kosonen (Blade Runner 2049), Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Game of Thrones). Successful special effects, effective plot, France 2 does not lose ground by immersing itself in a series of science fiction, a genre often badly treated on TV.
“Abyss”, 8 episodes. On France 2 since June 5.
When Bill Hader, ex-Saturday Night Live comic virtuoso, cast Barry on HBO in 2018, everyone expected a laugh. In fact, the starting point – Barry, an unaffected hitman, accidentally discovers a passion for the theater and settles in Los Angeles to take lessons – is the occasion for a virtuoso satire of Hollywood mores. and the small world of audiovisual. But the more Barry advances, the more the corpses pile up. For all sorts of reasons, Barry continues to kill, and, in an act that becomes the pivot of the entire series, kills the cop girlfriend of his beloved drama teacher, Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, the Fonzie of Happy Days). Result, for its fourth and final season, Barry is no longer laughing at all. Bill Hader has never hidden that his main influence is the half-grotesque, half-chilling universe of the Coen brothers. After some farcical passages, here we are in the middle of an existential film noir trend, No Country for Old Men (2007). Barry’s story closes as a true classic tragedy, relentless and majestic. To discover absolutely if you have so far missed it.
“Barry”, 4 seasons of 8 episodes. On Amazon Prime with the Warner Pass.
Beyond sporting performance, the success of the Tour de France. At the heart of the peloton lies in the narration installed by QuadBox, the production company which was able to make the best use of the images of the competition, transmitted by France Télévisions. Eight teams were selected from among the twenty-two who took the start of the 109th edition of the Tour, on July 1, 2022 in Copenhagen: AG2R Citroën, Alpecin-Fenix, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama-FDJ, Ineos Grenadiers, Bora- Hansgrohe, Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. After the very successful Formula 1. Drive to Survive and Sunderland: against all odds (on the English football club), the American video giant wanted to hit hard, three weeks before the start of the Tour de France 2023, which remains the the most watched sports competition in the world. And it rolls! Although we know the end of the story, the risk-taking of the riders and the general atmosphere of the Tour caravan give us its share of chills with each episode. Like their Formula 1 or football documentaries, the directors managed to weave narrative arcs among the favorites as well as the worst-ranked.
” Tour de France. In the heart of the peloton”, 8 episodes. On Netflix since June 8.
The catch-up session
The first episode ends and, for the horrified viewer, it’s not a crease: Tom Leroy has made up the murder of his own wife in a car accident. He even, and this is the trying initial scene, set fire to the vehicle so that the body of his wife, charred, would provide no proof of his assassination. Except that nothing goes as planned. And that, as the title of the series indicates, Good people, Tom, who is also a cop, is in fact a nice bugger, a somewhat stupid guy and very much in love with his wife, in short not at all, at all. all from the seed of assassin…. We did see him push the car into the ravine, strike a match, and watch his wife go up in flames… So? Filmed in the splendid landscapes of the Ardennes, this thriller unlike any other is signed by Belgian directors and screenwriters Benjamin d’Aoust, Matthieu Donck and Stéphane Bergmans. Served by brilliant actors, François Damiens, India Hair, Lucas Meister, he really holds his tragi-comic bet until the end. Can’t wait for season 2! “Good People”, season 1, available on arte.tv.
