Mafiosa

First off, were all these people writing such glowing reviews of this mess watching some other show by the same name, or what? I have watched a lot of crime drama from all around the world, and this calamity has none of the qualities I have ever found enjoyable or compelling in the genre, none at all.

Usually, the mob-side version of the form shows us a group of people bound by loyalty, occasionally interrupted by violence and urgent necessity as they are driven into them by the harsh realities of an underworld life. I would even venture to say that the main element holding most such drama together is how the theme of interpersonal loyalty under continual challenge is used as a kind of symbol for the larger human experience. But here, the question of loyalties, you may as well know, is answered early on and all through the nine-and-a-quarter episodes I managed to endure, is answered simply: there is none, and none to be expected to emerge. And, as shown here, continual betrayal is frankly kind of boring.

All because of "Sandra", who I have to say is the least-convincing mob boss I have ever seen portrayed, not only as a character but by the ashen-faced drabness of the lady playing her. Sandra has a lethal combination of the worst possible traits for someone in her position: she is naive, weak, irresolute, impulsive, uninformed, a victim of her own chronic wishful thinking and worst of all, arrogant. All she brings to this organization she inherits in the first entry is chaos, betrayal and death. Everything she tries, fails. She falls into every trap set for her, as she is so busy setting them for herself and her loved ones that she usually is the last to hear about the other disasters she is directly responsible for.

I stuck with this even as long as I did, just assuming that this impossibly slow and increasingly convoluted story line just had to be headed for some kind of turnaround, that Sandra would at long last pull her head out and rise to the occasion of a position she had never asked for much less ever been prepared to assume. But when, early in S2, she is made to stand on a table and sing to humiliate her in front of her entire organization, and complies meekly, I began to realize that apparently this is about a loser who knows nothing but how to keep on losing. No, thanks.

The ONLY redeeming quality this has is the Corsican locations. Period. And even that is ruined by a pretentious cinematic style which has the camera shaking around all over the place and keeps reverting to these weird badly-framed closeups where half of someone's face is in one corner of the screen while the remainder of the frame is just blurred and meaningless.

I never was much of a fan of French cinema anyway, and its television crime dramas have been consistently the least watchable owing to their being the most self-important and unconvincing of them all.

I don't know what the Frogs' fascination is with female leads who are comically inept at their jobs while their personal lives are nothing but one long juvenile scandal of poor communication and untrustworthiness, but I find it repulsive, as I did this. Only the Swedish make worse crime dramas with more intolerable female lead characters, but add some snow and this would be every bit that bad.

This is a Corsican cousin to "Godfather II", only with a woman taking over the family. It begins with her - a lawyer - apparently inclined to live closer to a normal life than that she's been called to, but through the two seasons I've watched shows her embracing the role she's been given all the way. Which soon includes a lot of violence. The real key here is her relationship with her brother, who has been passed over for the top role, but fully supports her for a long time. The anchor of the series is Hélène Fillières, who has a fascinating face with the angry sexuality of a teen, a smoldering way of looking at those she's confronting - for business or otherwise. Many of the scenes come down to her staring intently at someone else - whether with menace, seduction or decison. The big weakness is in the writing, which isn't always consistent, notably in her sexual behavior, which may well spice up the series but seems out of character at times. Also, for those used to this genre of the fundamentally decent person somehow involved in unsavory activity, there are certain rules, which are blithely violated here: the family keeps its word (not always here); the protection of the family is guaranteed (not so much), Sometimes when people are killed the reason is obvious; sometimes it seems very arbitrary. And the show gets increasingly violent as it goes on. It retains a unique quality and a variety of engaging relationships, so I'm sure many will be drawn in to keep watching. But to a large degree, I think it's more for Fillières's compelling presence than well-crafted stories.

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.

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.

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.