France 3 is broadcasting this Saturday evening the TV movie “Meurtres en Champagne” with Samira Lachhab (“Tomorrow belongs to us) and Stéphane Blancafort. A new opus in the police collection which takes us into the maze of Champagne cellars…
What is it about ?
During the party celebrating the centenary of her Champagne house, Madame Dupaquier is murdered in her own cellars. The investigation is entrusted to the energetic captain Sofia Guérini and the more reserved gendarme Mathieu Delorme. This duo is appreciated after having collaborated on several cases.
But faced with the maze of galleries that connect the cellars and the mysterious inscription left by the murderer, they have to call on Bastien Keller, a geologist specializing in the region. For the purposes of the investigation, Keller is exceptionally released from the prison where he is being held for having violated his judicial control – he is indicted for having endangered his employees during underground work.
One of the victims is still in a coma: Lucie, Sofia’s fiancée. As the motive for revenge emerges, Sofia and Keller must put aside their differences to prevent further murders.
Saturday February 4 at 9:10 p.m. on France 3.
Who is it with?
Directed by Dominique Ladoge, who notably shot Murders in La Ciotat and Mongeville, Murders in Champagne is worn by Samira Lachhab, whom TF1 viewers know well for her role as Leila Beddiar in Tomorrow belongs to us.
The actress, who also played in Candice Renoir and La Faute à Rousseau, plays police captain Sofia Guérini, and for the occasion gives the reply to Stéphane Blancafort (Tandem), who plays the geologist Bastien Keller and Yaniss Lespert (Christophe Lepic in Do not do this, do not do that) who slips into the skin of Constable Mathieu Delorme.
Faustine Koziel (Narvalo), Christine Citti (Camping, Sam) and Pierre Hancisse (Kompromat) complete the cast. On the technical side, Olivier Berclaz (Noir comme neige) and Laurence Lowenthal were in charge of the scripts.
It’s worth checking out ?
After Nancy and Amiens, it is this time in Champagne that the teams of the “Meurtres à…” television film collection have settled down. The opportunity to follow a new investigation which will lead viewers of France 3 into the maze of cellars in the Chmpenoise region.
With this unusual and cramped decor (claustrophobic abstain) which is no less grandiose, Murders in Champagne offers us very different landscapes from what the other films in the collection had accustomed us to. An originality that makes the charm of this 90-minute fiction directed by Dominique Ladoge.
True to the usual recipe, this newcomer to the collection is based on a duo of investigators with difficult cohabitation, who will nevertheless succeed in finding common ground in order to solve an investigation with multiple twists.
But unlike previous opuses, the police captain played by Samira Lachhab, whom fans of the genre have already seen in the skin of a different character in Meurtres à Figeac alongside Stéphane Plaza, here combines her forces with Bastien Keller ( Stéphane Blancafort) a geologist who will guide her in the undergrounds of Champagne. If animosities harm their relationship, they will manage to ignore it for the good of their investigation.
Although Murders in Champagne remains very classic in its script, the TV movie is still based on an effective and well-crafted plot, sprinkled with little touches of humor, which offers us surprising twists. Even if the end is a bit cliché and very expeditious, screenwriters Olivier Berclaz and Laurence Lowenthal manage to mislead us and offer us a surprising culprit.