Disparue

Nordic crime mystery-thriller stuff one of my favorites when it comes to genres. It's interesting to see another country attempt to copy the formula, especially when it isn't a remake.

While "The Disappearance" isn't a remake, it is definitely a copy. A girl disappears, then the carousel of suspect family members and acquaintances. They each take their turn in custody and interrogation while those waiting their turn to be brought in express suspicion of those currently being questioned. Hints that the primary investigator has something in his past that he'd rather not talk about. Lots of borrowed plot elements.

The carousel-recipe, regardless of country, isn't my favorite. It's almost lazy writing, as it could be anyone — just depends on when the carousel stops. When it does stop, a backstory explaining guilt is abruptly created. I prefer the genre variation where the viewer is shown the perpetrator early on and the story that unfolds is how they are found out.

"Disparue" would be great if it were the first of a kind — but at this point it's been done over and over, and often better, in other countries. "Bron/Broen" and the UK "Broadchurch" are examples of 'better'. That being said, "The Disappearance" is engagingly watchable while waiting for the next addictive Nordic Noir crime thriller to come out.

One of best taut drama, suspense, series I've seen. On a free trial of "Acorn TV" on Amazon, I decided to give this a try and was immediately drawn in and couldn't tear myself away. Great mystery, story, characters, acting, direction, and locale in Lyon, France.

The very real anguish of a family, after the disappearance of their teenage daughter and the gradually building nightmare gathers steam hour after hour, keeping you guessing right up to the end. A +++

From 'Twin Peaks' to 'The Killing', we're all familiar with the basic template of 'The Disappearance': an attractive but apparently ordinary teenage girl suffers a grim fate, and the detectives have to understand her dark secrets to figure this out. Cue lots of grieving relatives, red herrings and nasty surprises in an extended format. Some series of this sort are even rather good, but 'The Disapperance' will not be joining my list of favourites. Somehow the characters just don't come individually to life, perhaps in part because everyone is beautiful. And a lot of the plot seems to hang upon the girl's father conducting a shadow of the police investigation in a way I found scarcely credible. Finally, the red herrings are all ultimately revealed to be just that, completely unrelated to the crux of the story. Perhaps the problem is simply that the story isn't sufficient interesting to sustain eight episodes. 'The Killing' had a political dimension whereas 'Twin Peaks' soon went off in its own, original direction. Without any novelty, 'The Disappearance', while nicely put together, lacks any elements to lift it above its genre.

Another drama where you have the grieving making accusations at the police, because they think they're not doing their jobs correctly. Blame Blame. Oh and wait 'loud outbursts'.

While I thought it was over the top it still drew me in. I knew who the killer was in the 1st 30 minutes. What kept me watching was they were to be caught, with the twists and turns.

LA DISPARUE contains a fair share of clichés associated with the detective drama. Shot in the east central city of Lyons, it depicts the urban landscape as threatening, with streets peopled with citizens largely indifferent to one another, and a nightlife full of potential criminals - drug-dealers, pimps and predators looking for available partners. By day the city has its beauty-spots such as a local park; but by night they become sinister places for murders and other crimes to take place.

Other clichés include a chief investigating officer Morel (Pierre-François Martin-Laval) who is divorced and has to shoulder the responsibility of a looking after a rebellious teenage daughter Rose (Myra Tyliann). Neither he nor his ex-wife know quite what to do with her.

Nonetheless Charlotte Brändström's production does have its redeeming factors, most notably its portrayal of an apparently happy family torn apart by the disappearance and eventual death of middle daughter Léa (Camille Razat). We discover a tangled web of intrigue; of rivalries, political affiliations; sibling struggles; and the vain attempt of Léa's parents (Pierre-François Martin-Laval, Alix Poisson) to maintain a normal life in the face of almost unendurable pressures.

The chief attraction of the story lies in the rivalry between Morel and Léa's father Julien. While Julien is almost obsessively concerned to find out what happened to Léa, even resorting to illegal behavior in his quest, Morel has to balance an obvious concern for the family with professional ethics. For the most part Morel manages the task successfully, although he admits on one occasion to sidekick Camille (Alice Pol) that he has been severely emotionally affected by the investigation.

The plot is engagingly complex, with each episode ending on a cliff-hanger, culminating in the final episode that contains an unexpected plot-twist. LA DİSPARUE is definitely worth a look.