When the couple relationship becomes that of a predator and a prey. This is, in summary, the subject of Handling, the new mini-series launched Monday evening on France 2. In the casting, viewers will find Marine Delterme (Alice Nevers) and Marc Ruchmann (Plan Heart). The co-creator of this psychological thriller, Jeanne Le Guillou, explains to Europe 1 why she wanted to deal with this subject in series.
“A friend made a documentary for France 2 on narcissistic perverts. And seeing it, I realized how much the process of confinement was the same in each testimony,” she recalls. “To treat this subject in series allowed us to have time to show all this process which these people use to isolate their prey.”
An “almost mathematical” operation
The series therefore tells us the story of Maud, an accomplished woman in her work, who crosses paths with Mathias. The two fall in love. But, very quickly, those close to Maud begin to see that Mathias does not seem honest, he is in fact a toxic manipulator.
Bruno Degas, the other creator of the series, explains how this narcissistic pervert character was constructed. “It’s a mixture of lots of people that we know and a part of fiction. We realized that narcissistic perverts all work the same way, it’s almost mathematical”, is surprised- he does.
Hope for awareness
By exploring the serious (but relatively common) phenomenon of manipulation in a couple, Jeanne le Guillou hopes that this series can have an educational impact. “Maybe seeing this through fiction can help identify small signs, tell yourself that indeed it is not normal for my companion to talk to me like that”, she hopes. “If three, five or ten people watching the show think these behaviors are not normal, it will be good.”
The mini series Handling consists of six 52-minute episodes. Its broadcast begins Monday evening at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.