The creators of Un village français , the hit series from France 3 , are back with a bittersweet comedy not to be missed.
The pitch
Inspired by Cold Feet , an English series from the early 2000s, Une belle histoire follows the daily lives of three couples of friends (here, in the North of France). The series opens with a chilling and very successful first scene where we see two lovers roped up, climbing a facade in a dreamy mountainous setting while gently sleeping.
A few minutes later, the rock crumbles, the young woman tumbles a few meters lower, soon forced to take out her knife to save her companion. Next scene: five years later, we find the widower David, walking around his melancholy mourning, supported by his two life-to-death friends and their wives, before plunging completely into their little lives so close to ours.
The 'com' rom we were waiting for
In 8 episodes of 52 minutes, Frédéric Krivine , the author, manages to install six ultra endearing characters and a tone that oscillates harmoniously between laughter, tears and delicate emotions. The long duration of these episodes makes it possible to avoid remarks with a trowel as the outraged characters.
The couple, at the heart of this drama as close as possible to reality, is auscultated with a stethoscope, without feeling of déjà vu. Beginnings of love, infidelity, sexuality, mourning, friendship, big and small questions at the dawn of my forties, the creators of this pretty no-frills theater offer us the new Frenchie rom 'com' we have been waiting for since Clara Sheller . In short, an intelligent and sensitive contemporary romance that comes out of the clumsy cosmo-dating-happy ending combo.
The strength of a not flashy casting
In Une belle histoire , no headliner. The hero, David (the widower), is played here by Sébastien Chassagne ( Selfie , Irresponsable ) and brings to the series that normcore look and a lunar twist that makes the love story so believable. Georges, the neo-papa BFF ( Jean-Charles Clichet ) is perfect, like Louise Monot , the wonder mum in a relationship for a long time who discovers orgasm and real life late.
A long-lasting love
Porn-Netflixiens may be disturbed by the lack of spectacular twist at each change of scene and bewildering cliffhanger at the end of the episode. But between us and A Beautiful Story , it's a lasting attachment that sets in, and rises episode after episode. This is good news since four seasons are already planned. The only problem? The series airs on Wednesday, Top Chef evening . We make up for it on the replay. Obviously.
Une Belle Histoire season 1, 8x52 minutes. From March 11 on France 2.
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