Baron noir

Entertaining drama for those with a particular interest in French political intrigues. It has a left-wing perspective / bias given it's from the point of view of a socialist politician.

Very well done look inside the French political machine

I just watched all three seasons of this show over the course of a few weeks. I really enjoyed it, and now I'm yearning for a fourth season, although rumor suggests it won't be happening.

I found the characters very compelling, above all Kad Merad as Philippe Rickwaert, the master Machiavellian. After one episode I thought, "This guy reminds me James Gandolfini, which would make Rickwaert the Tony Soprano of French politics" -- and sure enough, by season 3 one of the characters was making the same comparison. (Rickwaert doesn't kill people, but his associates do have a habit of committing suicide.)

Almost as notable as Merad are Anna Magloulis as Amelie, Astrid Whetnall as Veronique, and Hugo Becker as Cyril Balsan, all of whom were new to me. I've watched other French shows (Village Francais, Engrenages, Dix Pour Cent, Parlement) but the only faces I recognized in BN were Philippe Resimont as Kalhenberg (he played a collabo in VF) and Scali Delpeyrat as Borde (an uber creepy aristocrat in Engrenages).

Several commenters have compared the show to Borgen, and I agree. But whereas Borgen seems positive and feel-good, Baron Noir delights in exposing the vanity, deceit, and ruthless venality of its political players.

I knew next to nothing about French politics before I watched this show, and my ignorance made it hard to follow certain episodes (especially given the subtitles, which can be misleading). But the series is so well-produced that I kept going. By season two I was consulting Wikipedia a lot. At least to this outsider, French politics seems far more complex and labyrinthine than politics in the US or UK -- e.g., the sheer profusion and volatility of the political parties. When I finished watching the whole thing, I read some formal reviews and realized that many of the characters were directly inspired by real people.

This show won't be everybody's cup of tea. It's most likely to appeal to political junkies and those with a taste for European TV. I fall into both categories. I also have a goal of improving my French, so I watched many scenes twice in quick succession, reading the subtitles the first time & ignoring them the second. That tactic really improved my comprehension, and made me appreciate the series' production values even more.

.... it won't mean much, other than the well worn story of rejection, unless you have an understanding and interest in French politics.

/refers to Season 1/

Works based on political struggles and intrigues are always tricky as the proportion of fiction and non-fiction is not often clear and people within and beyond daily politics have inevitably different views and conceptions. Here, in Baron Noir, the "shadows and demons" of politics are revealed through left parties, with a certain involvement of trade unions and business organisations that are traditionally strong in France. Things, events, ideas and partnerships change fast, and the whole course of events is like based on proverbs and sayings, e.g. "desperate times call for desperate measures", "all's well that ends well", "process is more important than the result" - to name a few... Friends and allies come and go, people entangle themselves in the network of lies and injustice, and you ponder on and over how all this would end. Well, the end solution is not bright and clear, as Season 2 is already planned...

As for performances, they were rather intense and deep, the French spirit and attitudes fully included, but most of the cast, incl. Kad Merad was unfamiliar to me - although I have seen several French films and series in recent years. In my opinion, Niels Arestrup as Francis Laugier had too limited opportunities to show his talent; the president was limited time on screen and in unvaried surroundings and circumstances.

Well, Baron noir is not House of Cards to the full, but comparable to e.g. Borgen and Les hommes de l'ombre. A good watch - unless you are too involved in (leftist) politics somewhere...

PS Season 2 is more about political technology and apparently less interesting to those far from politics, but... And the creation of Season 3 is not excluded either.

PPS Season 3 is full of political technology so it definitely requires some previous knowledge and/or interest how the combinations-coalitions form in politics. Otherwise you might find it too difficult to follow the constant changing paths and methods.