Cher Ali, cher Ali, cher Ali, cher Ali. If I address it like this, it’s to create a series, going back to its original definition, which is a sequence of words, numbers, objects, and it’s only by looking at the very bottom of Larousse’s definition that I found the definition that concerns us today: “Serialized TV show”. Feuilleton! I love this word, which originally meant an article inserted at the bottom of a newspaper page.
In 1800, the chronicle of a certain abbé Geoffroy always coming back to this same place, in “le Journal des débats”, was naturally called feuilleton. Then the serial novels imposed themselves in the press as newspapers quickly understood that if a reader enjoyed the beginning of a story, they would buy the following issues to find out what happens next. The dawn of addiction to immortal fictions and characters we refuse to leave behind.
“The Diplomat, International and Marital Crisis”
Usually, my Friday mission is to dissect two films in 130 years of cinema. Has anyone ever had the crazy idea to count how many films have been made since the Lumière brothers? The series has been around for much less time, but that doesn’t make it easy to come up with a good prescription, so, as usual, I play with words. With, first and foremost, “The Diplomat”, a brilliant US ambassador in England experiencing troubles in a series. Already in life, a woman can fall victim to Murphy’s Law, imagine if she’s at the heart of a geopolitical conflict!
You understand: Kate lands in London accompanied by her husband Hal, a former ambassador, and no, this man as remarkable as he is cumbersome will not really adapt to the role of the ambassador’s wife, especially since Kate always needs him, while the British Prime Minister is about to declare war against the Russians, or maybe it’s Iran, or maybe it’s even more twisted and complicated. Three exciting seasons of international and marital crisis! And it’s not over yet.
“Mindhunter: Ed Kemper, Charles Manson…”
I thought of serial killers! Psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est? Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, fa… Well, you’ll hear this iconic punk song from Talking Heads in “Mindhunter”, the outstanding series by Joe Penhall and produced by David Fincher and Charlize Theron, on the beginnings of criminal profiling.
Oh, the agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench traveling across America in the late 70s to interview such charming characters as Ed Kemper or Charles Manson! Of course, you might be a bit disgruntled if your favorite series is “Little House on the Prairie,” but otherwise, it’s impossible not to succumb to this captivating dive into the psychological depths of evil. Imagine “The Silence of the Lambs” but in 19 episodes of 34 to 72 minutes. And when David Fincher announced that season 3 would not happen, let me tell you, there were protests in series.
