La Maison

I would have loved to see a fun, soapy, behind-the-scenes tale of what 'really' goes on in a French couture house, but this is not it.

Every character is ripped from the cliché attic: the house's art director is foppish and authoritarian, oblivious to what's happening in the world of style outside his microcosm. His sister, a former model, obsessively records her weight daily in a series of hundreds of notebooks dating back to her glory days. The head of La Maison's rival fashion house is comically villainous.

Then there is the 'new girl', who designs raggedy clothes that literally look like rubbish - but is suddenly appointed the fashion house's new art director because of her amazing talent.

Awful. An absolute slog to watch.

In my opinion, when someone rates a series or a movie, they should understand what they are actually rating. A TV show is many things, such as production, set design, cinematography, direction, and acting. This series has all of these, and at a very good level. I assume that the show's subject matter is not to everyone's liking, so I wonder, if you don't like the subject matter from the start, why would you come here and rate it a 2 or 3? Overall, the series definitely doesn't deserve a 2; nowadays, not even amateur videos we shoot with our phones deserve a 2. Overall, it is a well-made production that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry. The show delivers on that.

Great locations, wonderful architecture, feminine and LGBT support, but where is the fashion?

Beside the evilnees in Vincent, and the wicked Diane, the rest of the cast are out of the shape, no soul at all.

The character of Paloma is what France trying to tell the world like (the Olympics): we are mixing everything with everything, just swim the wave no strings attached, no rules, no history, no nothing.

Come on guys, if you want to stick feminine and LGBTQ in every hole, do it nicely, softly, and professionally. Can anyone make something like (The devil's wear prada) again?!

Or those days are gone.

This is worth watching because of the stunning architecture, interiors and some interesting artwork that flashes by. The fashion is okay if you like black, black and more black. The characters are nasty and there is a lot of homosexual passion with both sexes, which is overplayed. There is also a lot of generational tension. All this reminds me of the old soap operas like Dallas. Fortunately, fast forward gets past the annoying stuff. The conflict of values between the generations is the most interesting storyline. It's an important struggle, conversation and ultimately has to do with our collective human survival. It is life or death especially for younger people who are inheriting a sick planet. And yes the issues of racism, gender politics, classism, sexism etc are all present too.

This is the series I didn't know I needed, but of which I cannot get enough! Is it the dichotomy of the sublime locations set against the sub slime back stabbing? The handmade couture set against the digital cowardice? Was there an intention early on to highlight the unequal distribution of responsibility for actions between individuals who bully or complain on social media and those who engage directly in the real world?

And who doesn't want the option to hear the French language? The quality of the English audio track is just as top notch as the quality of the French audio track. I like having the English audio track selected along with English closed captions. The words do not match up but the sentiments are aligned. Having both approaches active to the dialogue seems to give a richer insight to what the characters are communicating.

I sincerely hope there are several more seasons of La Maison to come! I'd love to see more French content and more old world locations as well.