Meurtres à Aix-en-Provence

I've been watching this series "murders in..." on MHz with tremendous enjoyment. Until this episode. This episode was completely unlike all those previous and all the ones which come after it. That's not a good thing. The plot was awful like the stinkiest French cheese with equivalent over-acting and ridiculous writing. The way it was filmed, was grating and hard on the eyes. And to cap it off there was none of the gorgeous scenery of one of the most beautiful areas in France that have made the series such a delight. It's like the cuckoo in the nest. It just doesn't belong and it hurts the series having it there.

THe corpse of a crucified man has been found in the crypt of the cathedral: soon an abandoned car is found: it belongs to the ophthalmoloogist Philippe Borg and the polic team finds the place where he has been killed. Also the dog of the victim appears with a message tied to its collar-a sentence of Nostradamus-. The police commander Anne Guidicelli must now work together with her sister,tthe historian Pauline Dorval-who just arrived at Aix-en-Provence for the valuation of an incunabulum of Nostradamus-. A difficult reencounter between the two sisters, but Pauline accepts to work with Anne. Then a second murder, athe fake suicide of the retired police officer Maxime Athanassian, again a sentence of Nostradamus near hi corpse. THe team discovers that Maxime received a phone call-a prepaid card- and that a woman called Aline Page received also a call from the same telephone: Mrs Aline argues that it was a mistake. The investigation goes towards the Club de Notre Dame and also towards a car accident seven years ago.

I enjoyed the performances of Astrid Veillon, Isabeñlle Vitari, Andréa Férreol, Christophe Rouzaud, Jérémi Covillault, François Feroleto, Renaud Leymans, Christiane Conil, Simon Guibert, Yann Lerat and Armand Giordani.

... from rolling them.

Some of these "Murder In..." are good. Good story line, good, typically-opposite main character combinations.

Others are not-so-good. Hard-to-follow storylines, especially when 'reading' the movie with sub-titles, and bodies dropping like flies.

This is neither. It's terrible. Contrived plot, overacting, cliché-ed evil stepmother, mother always liked you best sisters, ridiculous scenarios... even a hidden staircase.

I chose this episode because I had seen the main police character in another MHZ offering... "The Law Of..."... and she was quite good. If I were in her shoes, I'd be leaving this 'Policier' off my resumé. Definitely worth giving it a miss.