Notre-Dame

In my opinion it would've been alot better if it focused all of its attention on the fire, I can get that they packed it with all the other stuff to prolong the runtime, but still.

I don't know if it's the actors or the writing but most of the characters are pretty unlikeable, I never found a f to give about most of them.

I understand that the firefighters had their breathing masks off so we can see their faces but it's still pretty jarring to see people run into fires and not have a proper source of oxygen, just made me worry about the actors tbh.

Gets a 4 coz French is a cool language and at least it was short. Would not recommend unless you've watched literally everything else on Netflix, even then, just take a nap instead.

This movie has lots of side/sub plots that kinda take away from the main thing - that being the fire. But the thing I find most jarring is the fact that in multiple scenes the firefighters are depicted in extremely smoky environments not wearing any breathing apparatus. At one point they are trapped inside the notre dame and shown in extreme levels of smoke, and despite having tanks on their back, none of them use their masks, and none of them (apart from the asthmatic journalist who is also trapped inside) cough or show any difficulties breathing. (The asthmatic journalist only coughs on occasions and has to use her inhaler once). I kinda think the reality is that they would all be dead.

I admire Netflix for its internationally produced content. There are a lot of great production companies in the world besides what is regular fare in the continental US (aka superheroes, gunfights and cowboys).

This is a big budget Netflix series. You can tell by the effort to recreate the firefighting efforts that riveted the world for those 15 hours in April , 2019, the extras, the vfx, the general level of production standards.

But I actually had to stop watching like other reviewers mention (after ep.3)

The fire and the cathedral are the main "character" but take a backseat to maudlin characters in a US styled "Soapbox" like script.

Yes the production is trying to flesh out literally the human character aspects of a few selected courageous firefighters (plus a couple of reporters covering the fire) who put the fire out and saved many irreplaceable aspects of this world UNESCO heritage site and symbol of the French nation, including the pipe organs, the bells and stain glass windows (only the bells are actually portrayed being saved) with flashbacks, family issues and the like.

But there's a cardboard quality to these portrayals even when the characters are in the midst of the most intense situations. A kind of even-handedness to the level of intensity when really, with the whole cathedral in imminent danger, the script cuts away to some escort who has befriended a young African-French kid and whose father who runs a shop is trying to find her in time to say goodbye to her estranged, but dying mother.

There could have been so much more to up the level of intensity and focus more on the actual fire and the cathedral. For example, the audio levels of the fire burning is kept at an even output which does much to diminish its threat and dramatic character - even in close ups - when a ferociousness to the audio track would have done wonders to compliment the visual intensity of the flames. Its all watered down (no pun intended).

In the end there are a few genuine dramatic moments with the character portrayals by individual cast members, but for almost all intensive purposes drowned out by the overall script, the even-handedness of the filmic pace, the stultifying audio.

So many fictional characters with over the top stories, people that no one cares about. Ruined the focus of the story.

I don't understand why they can't just stick to the people who were really involved instead of this soap. We learn almost nothing about Notre-Dame and the event itself.

The movie Notre-Dame brule is outstanding, it sticks to the real event. WATCH THIS MOVIE INSTEAD OF THIS GARBAGE SERIES. It gives you a sense of what really happened and the glorious Notre-Dame Cathedral.

As a side note, in the movie, the French president and the Mayor of Paris appear as their real selves and that gives the movie much credibility.

The back and forth between different time-lines is over done and at time confusing.

6 episodes too long. 1 would have been enough without all these unnecessary stories. And TBH, why make a series when there is already and excellent movie that was released only few months ago.

SKIP and save yourself 6 hours and watch the outstanding Notre-Dame brule.

I get what they were trying to do here; the human stories of nine Parisians--during the night the cathedral burned and how the event was a common factor in all of them.

Except ... not really.

In theory, it could have been very good, and some parts, like the skill of the producers in integrating real footage of the fire with their film, is good.

It has a few excellent dramatic moments but although some of the story lines jell, others don't and most have nothing to do with the fire except as a momentary distraction.

I also get that in making a TV drama you have to take some license with reality. But the howlers about the firefighters pointed out by others here are valid. That lackadaisical treatment might have passed in 1960s or '70s but audiences are much more sophisticated now.

And I get that in real life, even during unfolding disasters, people aren't always focused on the event. The French pride themselves on their style and skill with psychology.

But the character who keeps saying that 'everyone remembers what they were doing when Michael Jackson died' is jarring. I don't. A lot of people don't. And in the context of a story what does this even mean?

Are we supposed to compare the burning of Notre-Dame of Paris to Jackson's death?

Good psychology in that it sticks on my mind but bad in that--besides the interspersed footage of the real fire--this maudlin comparison is going to be my takeaway.

That and the haunting suspicion that this whole thing was employed by the screenwriters as a vehicle for a lot of leftover plot notions rejected from other scripts and all crammed into this one.

Considered as a soap opera this would pass. As a soap opera with a fire in the background it stumbles along. As a drama about the fire itself--which is how it was sold to us--falls flat on its face. You're much better off just watching archived news reports.