Past and present crimes unfold in scorching drama 'The Embers'
It's not surprising then, to see Stéphane Demoustier ( L'Opera , The Girl with a Bracelet ), director of the first four episodes of this eight-part French series (Farid Bentoumi directs the final four), describe it as 'an utterly scorching thriller'.
In 1995, Lidia Achour (Mouna Soualem, The Night of the 12 , You Resemble Me ), a young member of an anti-terrorism squad, is sent to the town of Péranne after the brutal murder of an imam. Also on the case is local gendarme Jean Benefro (Olivier Rabourdin, Taken , Benedetta ), a man scarred by his memories of the Algerian War. Almost 30 years later, Achour is drawn back to Péranne after another shocking murder there, and the disappearance of her former partner – now a suspect in the investigation led by Adrien Caron (Denis Eyriey, Sambre:Anatomy of a Crime ), the town's newly-appointed police lieutenant.
Lidia (Mouna Soualem) returns to Péranne. Credit: Ulrich Lebeuf / Mintee Studio / CANAL+ Shocking murders aren't unusual in a crime drama. Nor is The Embers' dual timeline. But the setting is less common. It's neither a big-city police beat nor a chilly Noirish village. Instead, it's a fictional town on the edge of the French Riviera – a deliberate choice by the creative team. 'For this portrait of current-day France, we focused on a region that is seldom featured in fiction but is nonetheless omnipresent in our post-industrial societies. It is a France of roads and roundabouts, where industrial zones bleed into business districts, into rows of detached housing, and on and on in a stark yet grandiose sprawl. This is what gave rise to Péranne, our fictional town located somewhere in the Marseille suburbs, but far from the rocky creeks of the calanques or the city's disadvantaged northern projects,' says Thibault Vanhulle, series co-creator and co-writer, along with Thomas Bedegain.
Demoustier describes the setting as 'a territory of trouble and passion alike … Choosing this territory as a living, evocative, deeply complex backdrop has been our way to provide space for stories that have been unfairly overlooked and listen to voices that are too often unheard.'
Jean (Olivier Rabourdin). Credit: Ulrich Lebeuf / Mintee Studio / CANAL+
The Embers is in many ways about how we carry the scars of our past. Benefro is haunted by his memories of war. Achour has regrets about the events of 1995. Caron is a man of deep integrity but burdened by awful experiences. Marwan Oufella (Idir Azougli) lost his mother in an arson attack as a young boy and was raised by a racist, violent criminal. Years later, his paths cross with Caron and Achour in Péranne. Mehdi Meraouiis (Kamel Mahjoubi) is man trying to rebuild his life, but he, too, is caught up in current-day series of murders. The series also asks, does the passage of time fulfil hopes or dash them? The team wanted 'to spark a dialog between two eras,' says Vanhulle. 'Back in 1995, France's multiculturalism was described as black-blanc-beur ('Black-White-Arab'), a pun on the colors of the national flag. The Soviet Union had recently collapsed, and it was said that we were witnessing the end of history; that digital technology would replace our perishing industries; that the riches of globalisation would be distributed equally; that we would become interconnected, global citizens of a multiethnic, multicultural society; that permanent world peace was on the horizon. Perhaps it was the promises of this era that we wanted to weigh up against our current reality. What exactly happened over those three decades? "This is what inspired the French title of our series: Cimetière Indien ('Indian Cemetery'), based on the way Native American burial grounds were expropriated and desecrated in the quest to build the North America of today. 'The Indian cemetery is history repressed. It is the ghosts that we thought had long been banished for good. But ghosts cannot die; they just keep haunting us. Sometimes they resurface, ready to settle their score with the living.' This article includes edited extracts of material supplied by Mintee Productions / CANAL+.
The Embers is streaming at SBS On Demand.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Jamie Lee Curtis is 'very excited' about Murder, She Wrote movie
Jamie Lee Curtis is "very excited" about her new Murder, She Wrote movie. The actress will step into the shoes of Dame Angela Lansbury to play mystery writer-turned-amateur detective Jessica Fletcher in a new film based on the long-running TV show of the same name and Jamie has admitted she can't wait to start filming on the project. She told Entertainment Tonight: "Oh, it's … happening. We're a minute away, but yeah, [I'm] very excited. Very excited. "But I'm tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting. I have a couple of other things to hustle, but then I'll get to enjoy that work." Murder, She Wrote starred Lansbury - who died in 2022 aged 96 - and ran for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996. Bosses at NBC had previously planned to revive the show with Oscar winning actress Octavia Spencer, but reports from early 2014 suggested the project had been canned. Curtis is currently busy promoting her new movie Freakier Friday with Lindsay Lohan - a sequel to the pair's 2003 comedy Freaky Friday - which is due for release in early August. The Oscar-winning movie star previously revealed she loved working with Lohan again and admitted the younger actress "taught" her "so much" on set for a second time. She told Variety: "She has taught me so much. She has her team, where her two people would be standing on either side of a camera holding a big light. "It's Lindsay lighting - that would have been good branding - they hold lights so that we look better. "So, I've learned a lot from her already. We had a good time. We love each other." She added to the publication of the second film: "It's a movie for today. It is a happy, nostalgic, funny, sweet, heartfelt, Disney movie right at the end of the summer. "There haven't been a lot of movies for women, and this is a love letter to every mother, grandma, sister, cousin and daughter." Curtis has several other projects in the works including a TV version of Patricia Cornwell's book Scarpetta alongside Nicole Kidman, scam movie Sender and spy drama Spychosis.
7NEWS
2 days ago
- 7NEWS
Delta Goodrem reveals new wedding details from Malta ceremony and shows her fifth all-white outfit
Australian singer Delta Goodrem has given fans an exclusive look behind the scenes of her June wedding. On Thursday, Goodrem shared a carousel of photos from the intimate rehearsal dinner, revealing new details about her look. The 40-year-old popstar married her longtime partner, musician Matthew Copley, in a lavish ceremony in Malta. Earlier this month, Goodrem shared photos from the moment the couple said 'I do' at 12th century's St Paul's Cathedral in Mdina. The new shots captured the loved-up couple at their rehearsal dinner. In the Instagram post, Goodrem praised the team of people who helped create the look for the private family event. The white dress, with a V-neck lace-back, was designed by Sydney-based fashion designer, Amanda Tasevski. 'Thank you for all your hard work and love!!,' Goodrem wrote. The rehearsal gown is the fifth all-white dress the singer wore to celebrate her 'magical' wedding. Her wedding day outfit was an off-the-shoulder, French tulle gown by fashion house Paolo Sebastian, which took months to create. It featured a 2.5m-long train and matching cathedral-length veil. The train also had the couple's wedding date embroidered into the fabric. 'We said I do under the Maltese skies in a family fairytale wedding brought to life by so many angels surrounding us,' Goodrem announced on July 10. 'We are holding on to every memory from that moment, the love, the laughter, the happy tears and dancing till the sun came up. 'We can't wait to come back to Australia and celebrate as Mr & Mrs. 'Love, Delta & Matthew xx.' The pair first went public with their relationship on New Year's Eve in 2018, after posting a picture of themselves cuddled up on an outdoor lounger. After almost a decade together, they were engaged in Malta in 2023. Before the wedding day reveal, the couple had been notoriously private and Goodrem has very rarely spoken publicly about her relationship. But in an interview with The Australian's Woman's Weekly in February, 2023, the singer gave a rare look inside their love story. 'He's my guitarist, I met him through music,' Goodrem said. 'It's incredible to be on stage with him because he's so talented. We really are a team. He's my best friend, he's kind and just a beautiful human being. 'But I learnt quite young that I enjoy keeping part of that private. 'I've always been so understanding that I've lived in the public eye since I was a teenager but also I think it's nice to keep some things to yourself.'
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
We know how the mushroom trial ended. In this film, we can't be sure
In one of those strange confluences of art and real life, Francois Ozon's When Fall Is Coming is getting its Australian release just as the dust settles on the closely watched trial of Erin Patterson. The film hinges on another mushroom poisoning, this time cooked in what looks like a delicious fricassee by an elderly mother for her daughter and grandson. The film had its international premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival last year, long before the Beef Wellington story spread to Europe. Recent events do, however, lend Ozon's elusive, charming film an extra tang. Michelle (Helene Vincent) is 70 years old, living in a picturesque cottage on the outskirts of a small town in Burgundy. She gardens; she cooks and makes preserves; she has the typical French reverence for eating that means she sets the table properly even when she is alone. Her most constant companion is Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), a longstanding friend of similar age; the two of them go foraging in the woods, go to church on Sundays, and enjoy a wine or two. But all is not calm. Michelle's daughter, Valerie (Ludivine Sagnier), hates her and is rude and vicious and demanding. Michelle, desperate to maintain her close kinship with Lucas, her beloved grandson, tries to mollify her, but in vain. When Valerie is taken ill after their lunch, she accuses her mother of trying to kill her. Michelle wonders if that might be true. Is she losing her wits? Or does some part of her want to get rid of this bitter, bullying woman, even if she is her daughter? Wouldn't life be better if Valerie were dead? Loading It is the unspeakable question; this film asks it aloud. 'I had in mind a very good friend of mine who had an addicted son,' Ozon says. 'Her life was so difficult, and when he died of an overdose, she was relieved. Of course, she was totally destroyed. But that's the strength of nature – you are able to survive.' Marie-Claude is more inclined to blame herself for the fact that her hapless son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) has led a life of petty crime, culminating in his current prison sentence. 'She asks herself: what have we done wrong with our children? And Michelle answers, 'we did our best',' Ozon says. 'And I think Michelle is heroic to have this reaction, but at the same time she's monstrous.' Whether the poisoning was accidental is never resolved. 'Life is full of ambiguity, contradictions, it is not black-and-white,' Ozon says. 'And that is what I like to show. I like all my characters.' Even snarling Valerie, who begins as an unambiguous hate figure, has her reasons, at least in her own mind. Her sweet, elfin-faced mother made her living as a prostitute; she and Marie-Claude worked together. People found out; of course they did. Valerie can never forgive her mother for that shame. That idea, says Ozon, came to him as this poisoned family took shape in his mind. 'It was step by step. I liked the idea of a woman with a past – and the fact that the past is always coming back in your life. You can't erase it. I did a lot of research into children with mothers who were prostitutes. I realised there were two kinds of reaction. Some children punish their mothers with shame. Others understand it, accept and think their mothers were just victims of social circumstances. And try to help them, especially as they age. Because in France, prostitutes have no place. They don't have pensions or social security. Really, it's a very strong thing for spectators to respond to this in their imaginations. To make them understand the situation.' In a filmography otherwise distinguished by its variety, ageing women have been Ozon's go-to subject. 'I love old people in movies – and old women have been rendered almost invisible,' he says. 'Maybe less in France because we love our old actresses – but then, some old actresses in France don't look old any more! I love to have real actresses whom we can see are 70 or 80 years old, the idea they are beautiful as they are. And filming them in a natural way, you know.' That requires their trust, which he has built up with several of France's senior stars over the years. 'The advantage with old actresses is that the past is on their faces. So it is very touching when they let you make some close-ups. Helene Vincent is a great actress, and you see her life on her face or just in her way of walking. Just watching her can tell us so many things.' His choices still meet some resistance. 'I never say I want to make a political movie, but equally I realise that to choose two old actresses as the leads is political,' he says. Still, he adds that things are better than they used to be. In 2000, he made the first of three collaborations with Charlotte Rampling. Under the Sand is a spare and enigmatic film about a woman whose husband goes missing, presumed drowned, after going for a swim one morning. 'I couldn't find the money. Everybody tells me Charlotte Rampling is too old: she will interest nobody. And she was only 50! Can you imagine?' Loading Undeterred, he made a splash two years later with his murder mystery musical Eight Women, which featured Fanny Ardant, Catherine Deneuve and an 85-year-old Danielle Darrieux; it brought him an international audience and remains his most critically and commercially successful film. 'Hopefully things have changed now. It was not so difficult to finance this time.' Ozon has been surprised by the responses he has had to the new film. 'It is an amoral movie. I leave space for the audience to make their own judgment of the situations; I like this game with an audience. But sometimes you think much more perverse things than I have in mind; it's amazing to hear some spectators say what they have seen in the story. Sometimes I'm shocked!' He smiles urbanely; it is hard to imagine what on earth would shock Francois Ozon. 'But the film doesn't belong to me any more. It's very touching when someone puts his own obsession into your story because often people are talking about themselves, especially in a film about family relationships. Some women feel very close to Michelle. Others say that she is a monster: her daughter is suffering.' For others, the mushroom becomes a metaphor for the toxicity in the family. 'And why not? If you want to see that, why not? For me, it was more about nature – and the fact nature can be beautiful and dangerous at the same time.' Like these aged women, he adds, looking impish. 'I like the idea Michelle looks like a perfect grandmother, but she is more complex. It is kind of a cliche to idealise old people. Old people can be dangerous! Be careful!' So, is she guilty? Unlike real mushroom poisoners, Michelle never faces court, so never answers the key questions. Ozon says he knows the answers, but he won't tell. In San Sebastian, where foraging for mushrooms is part of life, audience sympathies were with Michelle; a mushroom mistake could happen to anyone. For Australians, it may be another story. Loading When Fall Is Coming is in cinemas from July 31. Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Screening Room newsletter.
