Mafiosa

This French drama follows Sandra Paoli, a Corsican lawyer who finds herself appointed head of the Paoli crime family following the murder of her uncle. At first is isn't a position she really wants but quickly grows into it as she learns the ropes while the family is split between those who support her and those who believe her brother Jean-Michel should lead the family. It certainly isn't a safe job as she has run-ins with rival families, Corsican Nationalists, the police and even people she considers friends. As her position strengthens the body count rises, both among those close to her and her enemies.

I really enjoyed this crime drama; it had plenty of exciting moments and a real sense of danger in just about every episode. As the final episode approached I was unsure which, if any, of the main characters would survive. While some events were expected there were quite a few surprises and even a couple of tear-jerker moments when certain characters die. The Corsican setting is great; it is somewhere I haven't seen portrayed on TV before and it provided great scenery and a feeling of somewhere rather different to mainland France. The cast does a fine job; most notably Hélène Fillières, who plays Sandra; Thierry Neuvic, who plays Jean-Michel; Eric Fraticelli, who plays Sandra's associate Tony; Phareelle Onoyan, who plays her niece Carmen and Frédéric Graziani and Philippe Corti, who play Tony's friend Manu; the latter taking the role in the final season. Overall I'd certainly recommend this series to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.

Mafiosa is a French TV series that ran for five seasons and deals with the Corsican mafia. The story revolves around Sandra Paoli (Hélène Fillières), a lawyer and the daughter of a mob boss who ends up inheriting most of her family's mafia assets after her beloved uncle is gunned down. Sandra is joined by her hot headed brother Jean-Michel (Thierry Neuvic) in an almost dysfunctional drama with your typical mobster subjects like murders, drug deals, extortion, gambling, etc.

Not quite as violent as Italy's Gomorra, nor does it have the complex characters of HBO's The Sopranos or the historicity of Boardwalk Empire, Mafiosa tends to go back and forth between being a soap opera and a mobster show. Sandra tends to fall in love with the hit men she employs and in the ludicrous first season- shuttles back and forth between being a defense lawyer and mafia queen.

The second season gets better as she finally ditches the lawyer subplot and goes full mob boss and the third season is actually quite good as the stakes go higher. But you just can't help but feel it's a little contrived when Sandra does things that no mobster would tolerate: like giving away information to cops, or dating her soldiers and allowing them to abuse her.

There are occasional side plots with goofy gangsters and family angst with her brother's teen daughter (the very hot Phareelle Onoyan), but on the whole it feels a little too tame for the subject matter its supposed to portray. Nevertheless if you're a fan of gangster shows you might want to check it out, just don't expect to be blown away by it.

The series is great. I totally recommend it. From this type you don't stop until the last episode is done. I am really shocked by the fact that there are no reviews here till now?! You will enjoy a great atmosphere of the authentic presented Corse for the rich mafiosi families, a little bit the modern version of Godfather but really away from it's plot. I've never watched no one from the cast before and I watch a lot of European cinema, that comes to prove you don't always need known actors to make the movie but just to choose the right type and just to let them play, one can feel that those people are really a good representation of the Corse underworld. The last season moreover is the best one. Enjoy this show, I envy you!

My favourite mafia drama of recent years was the Italian series 'Gomorrah', which, channelling 'The Wire', wonderfully showed how organised crime was integrated into the everyday lives of a community. With its setting in the complicated society of Corsica, 'Mafiosa' potentially has a rich tale of its own to tell. But with a sexy lawyer who just happens to be head of the syndicate as its leading character, and side-plots involving deep agents and cocky policemen, there's a fundamental silliness here, and the connection to the themes of Corsican nationality and identity feels more bolted on than integral. The female characters of 'Gomorrah' were among that programme's strengths; Sandra Paoli just doesn't have the same depth.

I first tried to watch it several years ago but, I don't know why, I could not make it. After all, I think because of the female leader in a Corsican gang. Corsicans who, as the Sicilians, are machos among machos...I tried again just a couple of weeks ago, four eps per day, and I just finished it. This is a pure jewel, AWESOME piece of work. Of course there are clichés, every movie talking about mafia contains clichés, because that looks like the real underworld...What would you like to see, mobsters taking care of babies or racketting nurseries or pet toiletting shops? That's also a tragedy tale, family tragedy, as SONS OF ANARCHY was, in another register, but also speaking about mobsters, not priests....Every sentence, characters, scene is engraved like a diamond. This is a flood of violence, brutality and emotion. DON'T MISS IT.