Ennemi public

Public Enemy (French: Ennemi Public) is a Belgian French-language crime thriller based loosely on the Marc Dutroux case. A child killer, Béranger (Angelo Bison) is released after 30 years into the care of a Abbey in the Ardennes near Vielsart,. The monks are divided as to whether or not he should be accepted into the order. When children in the area are killed, naturally suspicion falls on. Overseeing the case is Brussels detective Chloe Muller (Stéphanie C), she has her own demons, her sister disappeared more than 20 years ago. The inhabitants of Vielsart, provide their own dramas, with families divided. Indeed families are crucial to this narrative, families of monks, of police officers of cult members. Chloe's missing sister provides a story arc over the three seasons of this series, as does a strange religious cult. .The Abbey and Beranger are also central to the tale. A dark series with disturbing themes, violence and murders. Great performances from Bison. Vielsart, and an ensemble cast. The gloomy Ardennes forests could also be regarded as stars. Created by Antoine Bours, Gilles de Voghel, Matthieu Frances and Christopher Yates. On Netflix. 9/10.

A great series to binge on. Loved the interesting cast, plausible scenarios and measured violence. Such a pleasant change from the many formulaic series that Netflix is dishing out at the moment.

Well, I guess this show has the answer to the question... As a french native speaker, I obviously watched it in its original version, and I have been nothing of flabbergasted by the lack of professionalism displayed by most, if not all the actresses and actors involved.

I liked the first 2 seasons though, because their plots were quite good, with a lot of twists and turns. But on season 3, the horrendous acting ruined it for me.

The main character Chloe, gosh.... Not only does she look obnoxiously unattractive and unpleasant, but I felt she was reading lines from a prompter. The rest of the cast doesn't do much better, though.

The previously child molester now become "brother Guy" is absolutely ridiculous. If hamming it up were an Olympic discipline, he'd probably strike gold. Who acts like that? Where did they find that shipwreck of a cast???

Having recently watched La Trêve and it was to me liking, I was referred to Ennemi public. Well, I had some reservations at first, due to its background topic (based on media coverage, Belgium is apparently the most pedophile-sensitive country in the world), but thankfully, the real events did not have the signs of this horrible sort of crime. The inclusion of monastery scenes was distinct, the performers pleasant and up to their task (particularly Stephanie Blanchoud as Chloe Muller and the men depicting the Stassarts), and the wrongdoer´s person was not revealed too soon... Beatutiful Vallonian nature was a nice supporting actor, extra emphasizing the general mood and "demons" of people living in a distant community.

All in all, a good series, but still a bit less catchy to me than La Trêve where tenseness was higher and you could focus more on the present events rather than compare and assess bad things from the past.

MAIN

Both my wife and myself love mysteries. "Public Enemy" has, thus far, proven it's self to be worthy of our love.

All-in-all a well produced series; and we find ourselves dusting off our atrophied French, to some success. The dialog is a bit on the quick side and we find ourselves, infrequently, having to replay a scene because, with closed captioning turned on, we, unfortunately, can't read it fast enough.

As with almost EVERYTHING European: there is so little hustle-and-bustle. And it's still like ninety percent RURAL; an oh-so-welcome change from the concrete jungle (or should I say concrete prison) of the coastal areas of the United States.