“Criminal: France” Review by Brooke Daugherty
November 3, 2019 9:31 am |
All three episodes were directed by Frédéric Mermoud. The directing is excellent. Mermoud uses the two-way mirror brilliantly at times. He uses the script and limited settings to pull off tension and suspense.
Episodes were written by different writers, however – Episode 1: George Kay (one of the original creators) & director Frédéric Mermoud; Episode 2: Antonin Martin-Hilbert; 3: Mathieu Missoffe. I was a tiny bit disappointed in the writing compared to the original UK iteration. Overall the stories were good, but the first episode seemed to be the weakest. The beats of the stories were too similar, however all the performances were great. The English dub gets the point across without a huge gap between the voices and mouths of the actors. It appears the closed captioning is a closer translation to the original French, but the dubbed voices were close enough to keep the context.
Episode 2 had an outstanding performance from Nathalie Baye as the accused. She nails the part of haughty construction executive Caroline Solal. I didn’t particularly need to have a peek into the investigator’s lives, but Anne Azoulay as Brigadier Laetitia Serra left me wanting more to the story. Laetitia’s characterization seemed real and intense as this series seemed to take place over a few days to maybe a couple weeks. We never find out in these three episodes what is driving her actions. With the anthology layout, I’m not sure we will ever know.
All twelve episodes were filmed at Netflix’s production hub at Ciudad de la Tele in Madrid – these three as well as three of each set in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany. Seeing the same set used as different police stations in different countries didn’t detract from the stories. In fact, it made the cinematography and blocking better knowing they were limited to the same hallways, rooms, and staircase.
Even with a couple complaints, the series is overall very good. I recommend it for anyone who loves investigation dramas and even those who are on the fence. It is criminal to be such a simple premise and still be so good.
PCL Rating: High Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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Tags: Brooke Daugherty, Criminal Netflix 2019, Criminal: France, pop culture leftovers, TV Review
Categorised in: Television Reviews
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