France 2 is broadcasting an episode of “Candice Renoir” tonight during which the heroine thinks back to her youth with her violent father. The opportunity to discover a teenage Candice embodied by a Belgian actress who looks a lot like Cécile Bois.
While season 10 of Candice Renoir, which will close the Sète chapter of the series, will end next Friday, before event TV movies and a season 11 which will take place in Marseille, France 2 is broadcasting an unreleased episode this evening not to be missed. Miss who sees a huge wound from the past of Candice (Cécile Bois) resurface in the mind of the investigator because of an investigation.
Confronted with the case of a driver who seems to have voluntarily knocked down a woman who was sticking anti-feminicide posters in the middle of the street, Candice inevitably thinks back to her father, who was violent with her mother, and to what she experienced in the in her household when she was younger.
However, if the heroine played by Cécile Bois cut herself off from her mother and felt her father’s suicide was her fault, her childhood memories are not all black, far from it. This abusive father was also a loving father who introduced her to mechanics. It’s because there was love, moments of joy and laughter that alternated with dark moments, that forgetting is so difficult. But, for Candice, the time has finally come to forgive herself.
“We designed this season 10 as the year of transmission. At some point you have to ask yourself how Candice became Candice”Fabienne Facco, Candice Renoir’s collection director, recently told us about the genesis of this pivotal episode.
“There is a transmission, from her mother for her outfits, because she wanted to make her a Miss. There is her father who was a mechanic and transmitted to her his love of mechanics. And there is this trauma which is in her since she was a teenager. It was important to come back to it. It was a first meeting with the police too. We understand a little bit about her vocation thanks to this episode and these flashbacks”.
And going back, to this trauma already mentioned in season 2, allowed the writers and the production to come full circle before the end of an important cycle. “In season 2, we had thought with Solen Roy-Pagenault [la créatrice, ndlr] so that the character’s fantasy does not turn against us and against her. And that there is not something too light in the series, even if this part of fantasy was essential in Candice”explains Carole Le Berre, program advisor for France Télévisions.
“Solen came back with a proposal: a trauma in Candice’s youth. It was written in episode 5 of season 2, with Laurent Bateau who was our suspect. And this year, since we knew that Candice was going to leaving the urban security of Sète, Fabienne proposed to bring out this trauma. Because it’s also part of the character. There are fragments of the character’s past that you can activate when you want. And that made it possible to complete certain things since the Sète chapter is closing”.
A young Belgian actress to embody the teenage Candice
In tonight’s episode – the fifth of season 10 – viewers will thus witness several flashbacks during which Candice, then a teenager, is played by Lisa Horstmann, a young 17-year-old Belgian actress who looks like s misunderstand Cécile Bois.
Originally from Mons in Belgium, Lisa Horstmann, a student in the “Theatre and speech arts” section of L’Ecole du Futur, thus landed her first role on screen. And it is simply thanks to a casting announcement to which she replied that she found herself in the Candice Renoir adventure.
“A friend of my mum’s sent the casting announcement which was on Facebook. There was a photo of Cécile Bois when she was young, and she told my mum that she thought the resemblance was striking, that she saw me in the photo”confided Lisa Horstmann to Ciné Télé Revue. “So my mother sent photos of me, without much hope (…) because my mother did not think they would take a Belgian to shoot in Sète. The casting director called me back, she asked to play a scene and send the video. They were happy. A few days later, after a few more exchanges, I learned that I was taken”.
Fabien MALOT – FTV – BOXER 7 Cécile Bois and Lisa Horstmann in Candice Renoir
A very nice casting move – so impressive is the resemblance between Cécile Bois and the young Lisa – which visibly relieved the production and France 2 since Candice Renoir’s teams had been looking for an actress to portray the young heroine for months when they decided to turn to Belgium.
“We set off on a first track: as soon as Fabienne told me about the story, I asked that we immediately look for an actress, to be sure that it was feasible. We had identified a young actress, we wrote the script, and six months later it didn’t work anymore. She had grown up”told us the producer Caroline Lassa.
“So we started all over again and, after several months, we ended up finding the perfect actress in Belgium. And the resemblance is insane. The shape of the face, the smile, the look, it’s bluffing”.
So much so that Raphaël Lenglet couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Lisa Horstmann on the set of the series in Sète: “Raphael Lenglet, who plays Antoine, was shocked when he saw me. He came towards me, his mouth was speechless”has indeed entrusted the young Belgian actress to Ciné Télé Revue.
It remains to be seen whether other flashbacks centered on Candice’s youth will see the light of day in season 11 and will allow Lisa Horstmann to renew the experience.