The Forest

I thought this was really well done. Every one of the 6 episodes contained some kind of revelation and cliffhanger that kept me going onto the next one. I binged watched this series in about 3 days and really enjoyed it. Interesting characters and a plot that kept you guessing. Highly recommended.

This is a slow burner of a police procedural. But it's a pleasant surprise that this series is more than this.

The viewer has to be patient at the slow pace as Capt. Decker (Samuel Labarthe) and Virginie Musso pursue leads cautiously in the village that will lead to the killer.

Films, sometimes, have a viewers' pet peeve. In this film, one such character exists. And this is Virginie. There's no back story of Maya and Virginie that justifies why Virginie is so hysterical and frantic about the disappearance of Maya. It's understandable that mothers will react this way but her portrayal as the grieving, disconsolate mother is not convincing; it comes across as contrived.

This is also Eve Mendel's story. We root for her as she helps the police in their investigation, and when an important information about her past surfaces. The viewer hopes that her story will really have a happy ending.

Cinematography is splendid. The panoramic views of the wide expanse of the Ardennes are great. The locale (Montfaucon) is a quaint little town with a lovely river.

This six part French series is set in a village in the Ardennes where a sixteen year old girl, Jennifer Lenoir, has gone missing. Leading the investigation is Captain Gaspard Deke, who arrived in the village the day Jennifer went missing. Soon afterwards two more girls vanish, including the adopted daughter of Lt Virginie Musso. Evidence suggests that Jennifer disappeared in the vast forest which surrounds the village. As the series progresses suspects and motives emerge and events occur which will have a profound effect on those involved. A second mystery is provided by a teacher whose true identity is unknown; she was found near the forest as a young child, with no memory of what had happened to her before that.

I found this to be a gripping mystery. The setting is fairly stunning and added to the atmosphere impressively; the forest surrounding the village created a sense of isolation. Having a newly transferred officer lead the investigation serves well to introduce the viewer to the location and its inhabitants as we learn about things as he does. The resolution is satisfying without being too obvious. There are plenty of tense moments, especially towards the end. The cast does a solid job bringing their characters to life. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of subtitled crime drama.

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

It was worth watching but not really super captivating. There were a number of good characters and interesting subplots, but Virginia - who is pretty much the main character - is the worst police officer in history and in any realistic scenario would have been thrown off the case and probably out of the force by her new boss within the first day.

Occasionally, I like "mini-binge watching netflix" with my wife on the weekend. One of my gripes about most series is that they start strong but eventually the story line degenerates into a typical soap opera, the premise is lost, the series drags on and on, and the conclusion(if they ever get to one) is unsatisfactory.

That does NOT happen in the little gem.

This series is short enough that you can get the satisfaction of finishing it over a weekend. The story is really good with enough layers to keep things interesting, the acting/character development is great, and the very final scene/conclusion is good.

It's dubbed, (french language movie) but after one episode, you won't even notice it.

Well done.