Cannes Confidential

Alas, Cannes Confidential, besides its beautiful scenery, is a bust.

The women were cast too young and with ridiculous outfits.

The plot involving the father is confusing and doesn't seem necessary.

I only watched this show because of Jamie Bamber. This is so beneath him. First of all, for me to keep watching, he'd have to be in every scene and of course he isn't- he undoubtedly spends most of his time trying to line up another job or changing agents.

He's gorgeous, so with him and the scenery, it's not a total write-off.

I say cast some believable police detectives and feature Jamie in another series.

I wanted to like this so badly. Love Jamie Bamber, beautiful scenery on the French Riviera, heists, capers... what could go wrong? Well..... apparently a lot. Start with a lead actress with zero charisma and acting ability, then take yourself too seriously and remove all of the fun and romance and intrigue and make it weird and dark with everyone pissed off all the time. Whoever was in charge here missed the boat completely and should really have taken a cue from shows like The Mallorca Files or Candace Renoir. It's a shame really to waste so much potential. Get a different lead actress and revamp.

But (as you may have guessed), I didn't. Let me explain why.

This is classic detective-fun-glorious scenery-not to take seriously crime series. Main actors are very attractive and obviously the french scenery is very beautiful.

If it didn't take itself seriously and had a bit of comidic tone it might have worked better, for example the Mallorca Files are excellent series.

Here though, the main female protagonist is way too young to be a lieutenant, she is always overdressed for the occation (ie arriving at the crime scene with high heel boots like she is going to a party) and she is also mainly being pissed of about everything. Last but not least, she cannot act.

Bamber is ok, he seems charming , not over the top but the writers have him restrained in terms of his part as a counterweight to the Lucie Lucas importance to the series.

It might have been an entertaining series but the characters are dull, the crime story not interesting enough and the final product is more of a miss than a hit.

I am a murder mysteries addict. I have BritBox, I have MHZ, and Acorn. I watch German language detective shows in France, English detective stories anywhere in the world, but the accents were so bad that Cc was required. I could barely get through the first 10 minutes much less all the way through the show as the lighting and cinematography were terrible. At the first crime scene, The camera was literally on the floor looking up at the two detectives talking, why? The two detectives are clones of each other. Exotic ratty haired, puffy lipped 20 somethings women. And their outfits??? This is France for heaven sakes.... why are the detectives walking around with cheap blouses, super tight jeans and silver booties? At least it wasn't like 10 years ago when all the female detectives wore black pants, black jackets and a tank top with half their boobs sticking out. Now the focus seems to be the booty. In The first half hour there were several shots showing the detective walking away with the lens focused on her butt incased in the tightest jeans ever. I don't want to sound like a prude but it would be tolerable if there was anything going on. According to other reviewers nothing seems to improve in the next episodes....so I will stop here. BTW, many comparisons with Mallorca Murders...and except for similar european coastal towns, Mallorca is great. Especially after the first two episodes and the protagonist are comfortable with each other. I like that there is chemistry between the German and English detectives without it falling into a cliched romance.

We wanted to like it. But a little too woke with actresses that can't act, who lack any femininity, and spend all the time fist fighting and kick boxing the men (the bad guys). Beautiful scenery on the French Riviera. That's it. The lead actress has zero charisma. The other actress hates everyone and takes the fun out of everything. There's no pleasantness in this shows. No sexy undercurrents. They tried to make a Mallorca Files but missed in every aspect. The Mallorca Files is the way it should have been done. Recast the whole thing with characters that have effervescence and panache. And don't have every episode end with ladies duking it out, and badly I might say.