Set in a small coastal village in France, this is a quiet thriller of crime and dark secrets. The opening sequence takes place in a house just put out for sale. In it, the discovery of what ... Read allSet in a small coastal village in France, this is a quiet thriller of crime and dark secrets. The opening sequence takes place in a house just put out for sale. In it, the discovery of what appears to be the dead family in the house, implicates the former chief-of-police to the p... Read allSet in a small coastal village in France, this is a quiet thriller of crime and dark secrets. The opening sequence takes place in a house just put out for sale. In it, the discovery of what appears to be the dead family in the house, implicates the former chief-of-police to the plot. The now-retired chief-of-police, having made a lot of enemies in his past career, is ... Read all
- Awards
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
Featured reviews
There are good things here. Marie Dompnier as the young detective Sandra Winckler is very watchable: she alone gives the series its focus and makes one care about what happens. But the plot is far too elaborate even by recent Scandinavian standards and the holes in it gape far too wide. The device of giving no answer at all to straight questions becomes seriously overused, especially in relation to Paul Maisonneuve (Thierry Lhermitte), the aristocratic, stone-faced ex-police chief with an enigmatic past. You keep on wanting to yell, "Just answer the question!" at Paul. As for Sandra, you'll repeatedly find yourself shouting, "Call for backup on your cell phone!" and when this fails, "For heaven's sake just shoot him!"
The small Channel town of Le Tréport, at the foot of chalk cliffs, has a major role as a dismal, Gothic background for the convoluted goings on. Yet Le Tréport in reality is a charming place, certainly not one known for awful weather, demented clown-faced serial killers, and rabid wolves. It might have been better to use the Broadchurch method: a sunny seaside village with magnificent cliffs as a splendid foil to the dark undercurrents.
There will of course be another series of Witnesses, as certain plot elements need to be resolved. I suppose I'll watch it, but not with high expectations. There was only just enough in this series to make me persist with all six episodes, and it's really not a patch on The Killing or Broadchurch nor on the best French cop dramas like Spiral.
We're seeing it with a head start here in Australia, and episode 2 shows that the promise is there to live beyond the initial opening episode and what are always grand setups.
Whats truly astonishing to me is that for the lead actress, Marie Dompnier, this is the first outing for her in front of a camera (i understand she is a seasoned theatre actor). She is transfixing, not only for her appealing appearance (i already have a crush, but will move beyond the superficial hereon in!), but for making her confident female detective character utterly believable. Its something of a triumph right there. She looks as though she has been acting on film for some time. I hope to see more of her in the future.
As i said, im 2 episodes in and i cannot not follow through!
Did you know
- TriviaWhile a French show, the first season premiered in Belgium and Australia before reaching French screens.
- How many seasons does Witnesses have?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime52 minutes
- Color