The Series Mania Festival continues in Lille where fans were able to discover a preview of De Grâce, an Arte production that gave us a good slap in the face.
Pierre Leprieur (Olivier Gourmet) was born in Le Havre, with petrol and salt in his blood. A man of all combats, he became through his political and union involvement a respected figure among the dockers. But on the evening of his 60th birthday, while his relatives are gathered for his birthday, everything collapses. His youngest son, Simon (Panayotis Pascot) is arrested at the wheel of a car that his brother Jean, dealer, lent him for the evening. A kilo of cocaine is found in the chassis.
This is the starting point of De Grâce, the series that Arte is presenting in International Competition at Series Mania. Created by Maxime Crupaux and Baptiste Fillon, it immerses us in the heart of a Shakespearian thriller where revenge and family curse mix.
The polished direction of Vincent Maël Cardona – to whom we owe the excellent Les Magnétiques, award-winning at the Césars – supports this almost mystical atmosphere. The atmosphere is sticky, heavy, dark, as if the air were unbreathable. We let ourselves be caught up in the series and its characters, of which we don’t know much after the first two episodes screened at Series Mania.
Because it is the bias of the screenwriters of De Grace: the past comes to enlighten the present. And the use of flashbacks makes it possible to understand the characters and their actions, like the patriarch played by Olivier Gourmet. If the whole cast comes out with honors – Pierre Lottin, Margot Bancilhon, Astrid Whettnall and Gringe in the lead – Panayotis Pascot pulls out of the game. The one we see more often in comedy is slides here in the role of a lost and silent young man who is looking for himself.
Arte will broadcast De Grâce next fall. And we can’t wait to find out what’s next.