User reviews

Though I'm not french I've been living in France for almost 10 years and I speak french. I think I can understand why french people is hating this series. I presume they're looking into details that non- french speakers won't take notice: accents, way of acting, rhythm, dialogues, etc. The french viewers and filmmakers are used to other kind of stories and language (in addition, french people love to take down their own work! You won't never hear them saying "this is good", they will say "it's not bad/c'est pas mal")

The series is worth the watch. There's an evolution in the characters that might have been done better, but acting and script it's not as bad as critics have said. Not the best series I'll see this year, but I've loved it as it radically changed from most of the other options you have on Netflix: American or British productions.

I hope there'll be a 2nd season.

For a French series, I think it's a good beginning to a new era, it will open others ways to explore for the "french series industry" (yes by Netflix this time).

About the series it-self, it's quiet good, the script, trivia, camera shoots are good. Sometimes the dialogues are "weird" and I think even more when you understand French. About the actors, Magimel is good in this role and Depardieu is quite eaten by his past, we know almost everything about his films and there is no surprise about his playing. But all together have a sort of charm in the Frenchie way.

So I'll wait for the season 2.

Great show. Triste pour la France. If the writers/producers or the people in charge of the translation are reading, please contact me. I would very much enjoy giving your translators French lessons. This show is urban. This show is social. It is also very political. Proper translation is in order to convey the message and honor the writers. Too often do we see TV shows suffer from poor conduit. It has nothing to do with opinions on any of the subjects displayed in the show itself. Simply to honor both languages. The cultural effect might suffer. the slangs, idioms, and social language is quite simple to fix. Language carry the weight of social and cultural change.

The script is born to mimic other political scripts. And be fateful to the nanny state state school indoctrination. Nothing original. Or creative. Stock characters in a stock story. The acting is so and so. The dialogue is crap. So it's hard to blame the actors. And the writers and producers are so in need of information! It is the French white middle class view on both the very low and the very high placed people in their society. A fairy tale about life in the ghetto or the political games. Probably a series about catholic syndicate men (not women), say the railway or the teachers, extorting more money from the rest of the society would have turned out far more engaging.

Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

Too much smoking... storyline like a soap opera, hard to watch sometimes, nice scenic shots of the city

As an American of European descent I loved these series. All lead actors put out great performances. Depardieu didn't disappoint. May be french audience is giving it poor ratings, but as someone who doesn't speak or understands French, I loved it. I always watch foreign movies, including this one, in original language with English subtitles. I also loved Borgen, the Danish political drama series. Well done, both Marseille and Borgen.

Once I get my head around why actors keep tugging at their collars over and over again then maybe I can pay attention to the content

Up here in Vancouver we don't have teeming masses of third world immigrants living in Ghettos. We don't have "projects" and while we do have our social problems they are flyswatted away in comparison to the major European Cities (and the major American cities I might add). Toronto is getting there though!

This series for me highlights a number of differences between the European zeitgeist and our way of living. It's principally about election skulduggery but it's full of real social comment. No gay issues, no transgender whining and a different , more subtle, intelligent feminism. In short, no political correctness to be found.

First thing is the overpowering sense of hopelessness for the working class stiff or the immigrant, there's just no chance of getting ahead in the normal run of things. If you're born in the projects then there's no way out, unless you get lucky or turn to crime. The education system can't really help you because it's as broken as the rest of the social infrastructure. That broken infrastructure is one of the most powerful themes in the storyline

The answer in history has been revolution, but there's so many disparate interests in these cities/countries that we just have to wait for the true revolutionary to surface ( and they only come once in every few generations)

The second difference is in the embedded class system , everything on the one side is haute couture, gourmet dining and love of the arts while on the other side the untermensch get fast food , hiphop and drugs.

Can you see trouble coming?

This series portrays it all wonderfully well and the casting is superb. Depardieu is a fantastic talent and all the actors around him are flawless. The upper class women have that aura of elegance and privilege about them and the rebellious youthful cast are so intellectual in their portrayals that you know that they've been in this treacherous scenario at some time in their lives already.

Politicians are politicians no matter what country you're in, but these reach another level of sleaze with their greed and hunger for sexual conquests. Each and every actor puts on a perfect performance .

Sex is just another day in the park for these European productions and so we see quite a bit of it. It's just another tool to gain power or compromise somebody's integrity. As an aside , one French President, when confronted with the scandal of his illegitimate child, said " So What?"

Marseille is painted as a dirty, slum filled port city riddled with crime and corruption... funny, but that was the impression I got when I visited the place a couple of years ago. See? you can judge a book by its cover.

Fantastic series but don't listen to the English dubbing, it is atrocious just like most of the other foreign language movies that Netflix butchers. Just keep it to the subtitles and you'll enjoy it

Netflix really should be brought to task about their overdubbing, I've seen three or four movies now where it's been done and it couldn't be any worse!

Not really a great entertaining series but enough good to spend a lovely and interesting time with all the characters shown in these Netflix episodes.

Every actor and especially Gerard Depardieu delivered performance as I expected.

The content is mixed with corruption, scandals, criminal and love affairs that maintains the attention above the average. Marseille is the heart in this story and the running time of each part is not too long. So if you have not other options on Netflix for example try these French series. You will see it is never boring but be warned not to expect too much. My rating with my wife is an average of 6 out 10.

After House of Cards I hoped to enjoy a similar show in European setting this time. Depardieu with all the cast perform very well, but the script in general is rather flat. The behavior of major protagonists is illogical at times as if Netflix was very much in a hurry to release season one in 2016.

It would have been a very decent season if the script writers had studied better the psychological side of main protagonists.

Wrapping up: music is great, photo shooting pleasant to watch, location also fantastic, nonetheless it is far from West Wing or House of Cards milieu.

Gerard Depardieu played his role so good..you can tell he's a veteran actor..as well he made nice duo with Benoit Magimel ( Lucas Barres ) The series is entertaining and not boring at all.. I am sure if Netflix continue the series it will work out especially that they learned a lot from season 1 and 2

SE você quer uma série para praticar o francês e ver lindas paisagens do Sul da França com direito a Gerard Depardieu essa é a pedida. Mas, se procura uma série bem produzida com roteiro bacana, esquece. SI vous voulez une série pour pratiquer le français et voir de beaux paysages du sud de la France avec Gérard Depardieu c'est le truc. Mais si vous recherchez une série bien produite avec un script sympa, oubliez-la. IF you want a series to practice French and see beautiful landscapes of the South of France with Gerard Depardieu this is the thing. But, if you're looking for a well-produced series with a cool script, forget it.#netflix #serieslover #marseille

Just finished (binge)watching Marseille. It's an old fashioned but well made series with a simple straight forward storyline without any sidelines. There are some sex scenes but nothing explicit and they all serve the story (read one review that stated the series was oozing sex but that is nonsense). It's mostly about betrayal and changing loyalties in a small group of people centred around a mayor election in Marseille. The plot is very predictable and does not have surprises, you can see developments coming long before they happen. For a 8 part series the cast is very limited but good, acting is OK but in several parts I was not impressed. It's a Netflix series that will not win any prizes, they made better. Marseille is an interesting town, full of contradictions and a boiling pot full of crime and problems on one hand and promise onthe other side. Have the feeling there was more to be made out of this.

Sure I'll start with how Gerard Depardieu plays his role because it really is outstanding. But actually all the others are as well because there is a multitude of characters, all perfect selection and well played. The show is just how a good idea should go - few seasons, few episodes, as otherwise everything, no matter how good, starts to degrade - happened to many TV show, even that here there is an open end in a way that allows a good 3rd season, but is as good as it is even without it.

The plot might start as a rather classical politics fight, but twists in an interesting way thanks to all the dirt in the politics, plus the unexpected things in life.

Great camera work, as scenes and light are top. Good soundtrack.

Merely better than average, this confection is a spiritual heir to House of Cards. In more ways than one, considering recent revelations of me-too allegations against its venerable leading man. We are watching because we are in the country for a while, and have learned interesting things, such as that the titular town is the nation's second city, but second to none in its regard for colofrul fashion. Fans of the old American show Dynasty will perhaps appreciate certain parallels to that project, as well. You may learn nothing more profound than certain phrases, for example that when the French wish to call a spade a spade, they call it 'un chat'. A melodrama has the same purposes in all languages, one supposes. Lasts no longer than the two seasons that it deserves.

Well after watching SPIRAL the TV series, Marseille does contain a couple of actors from SPIRAL, but this is a little disappointing. Finished 1st series, maybe it will get better. The scenery is beautiful especially the port area. Gerard plays his part well, Benoit is a character I thought would have been better allocated to someone else. He was a little unbelievable at times, as was the wife of the Maire.

Take your time with it if you want to understand the plot and the characters. Some characters are definately there to fill spaces and are not really integral to the plots, of which there are a few twists.

Enjoy.

Love this show. Gerard Depardieu is brilliant! Please make more series!

One of the few things I'd like to mention is that overall the show is pretty decent in terms of style, plot and acting. However, some actors seem to be not in the right place. The actress playing Rachel Taro is clearly overacting, she's boring, dull, and simply not believable. The actress who plays Vanessa is utterly James-Bond-villian-type-two-dimensional and looks like she's about to break into a spaceship. There's also one thing that really pisses me off. Those times when somebody sends a text message and their photos appear... My God... They're so cheesy and unrealistic and you feel like you're playing a video game.

Firstly I recommend you set to french language and use English subtitles, it is much better hearing the actual actor's voices. The characters are good and surprised me at the changes in what you think will happen, shows politics how it is with deals, treachery and affairs. I found the series captivating. I know many French critics didn't like the series and seems two seasons is the lot but for me looking into this world it was entertaining and shocking and I would have liked to see 4 seasons to focus on individuals progress or downfall. Give it a go.

Marseille, well the dialogue or script sound like some cheap french soap opera, the scenery though is fantastic, views of the city are what kept me watching this jumbled up mess of a soap opera. Excessive reliance on sex scenes seem almost clichéd, whose screwing who, got to keep track of all of that useless drivel, scriptwriters should of got on with developing some proper dialogue and in depth characterization. The characters all come across as clichéd and tiresome, dreary dreary, but the panorama shots of the city do look so good. The marvelous french architecture and historic city buildings are interesting backdrops to all of this. It is supposed to be quite the crime infested city, and I guess that is real to a point, but I wish they could have given the characters more dimension, and stop with the excessive useless tiresome overdone sex scenes.

Very exciting series, with much to look forward to.

Each episode was more exciting than the other.

Looking forward to next season , and what it has to offer.

Think this series just gets better and better.

Finally some series in French and not just English .

The main character is so good. He makes the series.

One of the top series 2016, guaranteed.

One of the best series I've seen in a long time .

So good characters in it, and it will come only more and more .

I love this, series.

Regards: Saoobi

This was supposed to be a French version of something like House of Cards. It is about the rivalry between two candidates for the political leadership in Marseille. Both Gérard Depardieu and Benoit Magimel are two good, and very different, actors for the main characters. This creates an interesting dynamic between the two.

Still, the drama feels quite flat and stereotype in its execution. Actors are overplaying at the expense of nuances, subtleties and leaving basically nothing left to the imagination of the viewer. The storyline feels very linear and predictable, there are too few twists that keeps the interest up. Also it seems like very boring politically correct approach where the good folks always are on the left side and the bad ones always on the right side of politics.

The series could have been so much more than it was. A pity with so strong casting.

No surprise that it was cancelled after two seasons.

Many of the reviews of this series are critical primarily because of its soap-opera tendencies and the fact that some plot lines are either poorly developed or absurd. True in many respects. However in my opinion the whole far outweighs the sum of the parts and the overall impression and effect is powerful. This is because Depardieu carries it via his total authenticity as the patriarchal but ageing old-style political leader who is desperately hanging on on the one hand, but whose instincts and humanity capture our sympathy and support in spite of his flaws. In art as in life as far as GP is concerned?! In particular the positioning of "Sporting Marseille" (OM) as a unifying civic force is spot on, as it is for many big and discordant Old World cities. The portrayal of the extreme right "Parti Francais" has evidently (from some reviews) angered certain sections of society but it is on the mark. Not a bad effort from Netflix, and superb from Depardieu.