France - TV SHOWS & MOVIES

[Pauline]

Let's make a list of great French TV Shows and Movies, on this day when we are all thinking about France.

TV Shows
UK Channel 4 shows foreign TV shows, in a section called Walter Presents.

Spin (called Les Hommes de L'Ombre - Man of the Shadows - in French) - showing on UK Channel 4 (Walter Presents). A political drama set in France, in French with subtitles.

Match Day - showing on UK Channel 4 (Walter Presents). "Classy French noir with an unusual football setting, in which a sexy Parisian cop is drawn in to a world of greed, sex scandal and blackmail."

Spiral - Season 5 of the French TV series "Spiral" starts in the UK on Monday. BBC Four - Spiral, Season 5

Witnesses - Season 1 showing in UK 2015 on Channel 4. Available in the US on Netflix and Amazon. Thread about the series and its location.

Maigret - TV series based on the detective novels by Georges Simenon, starring Michael Gambon. There were two seasons (1992 and 1993). Available on DVD. IMDB info. ITV is making two new shows in 2015 starring Rowan Atkinson.

Movies
I will fill this in as people post and I remember what we watched recently.

 

[Debra]

There is always Insp. Maigret, adapted from George Simenon's books. Michael Gambon is delightful.

I made it a point last October to eat at Au Petit Tonneau, a restaurant in the 7th frequented by Simenon during his lifetime. My daughter and I were seated, my back to the wall, when a young couple from Brazil was seated next to us. He asked how I found this restaurant and I told him about Simenon. He was delighted, telling me he had read many of his books and pointed out that I was even sitting in his seat!
My daughter hadn't noticed the gold plaque behind my head with Simenon's name on it. We returned a few days later on my birthday and it was one of the best birthday dinners ever.

 

[Pauline]

I started a new thread about the recent French detective series for TV - Witnesses.

 

[Pauline]

@Debra while looking to see if we get the Michael Gambon version of Maigret here I came upon this.

ITV to bring Maigret back to British TV with Rowan Atkinson in the title role, Feb 2015

From the article: "ITV’s Director of Television, Peter Fincham, today confirmed commission of two stand-alone dramatic films featuring the legendary French fictional detective Jules Maigret, to be played by Rowan Atkinson.

Set in the 1950’s in Paris, the first of the two x 120’ films, Maigret Sets A Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man, will go into production in September 2015, produced by Ealing Studios and Maigret Productions Ltd (a Peters Fraser Dunlop Group company) and commissioned by ITV's Director of Drama, Steve November, and Controller of Drama, Victoria Fea."

 

[Pauline]

I can't find the old Maigret TV series with Michael Gambon on Netflix or Amazon streaming in the UK. It is only available on DVD. It looks like there were two seasons in 1992 and 1993.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107221/

 

[jonathan]

For Brits of my generation, there's only one TV Maigret: Rupert Davies (BBC, 1959-63).

 

[Chris]

I can't find it either. It used to be on my Netflix streaming list, but apparently they've removed it. I always intended to watch it, but never got around to it. I see Amazon has the complete collection on disk for $30, but if I didn't watch it when it was available streaming, I probably would never watch the disks either.

 

[Chris]

I never heard of that one, Jonathan! There's at least one episode available on YouTube.

 

[jonathan]

Yes, Chris, I had a quick look at that YouTube. It looks terribly dated now! Since I was only 10 when the series finished, I can't imagine my parents let me watch a whole programme, but it all looks very familiar - maybe it was repeated later in the 60s.

 

[Debra]

@Debra while looking to see if we get the Michael Gambon version of Maigret here I came upon this.

ITV to bring Maigret back to British TV with Rowan Atkinson in the title role, Feb 2015

From the article: "ITV’s Director of Television, Peter Fincham, today confirmed commission of two stand-alone dramatic films featuring the legendary French fictional detective Jules Maigret, to be played by Rowan Atkinson.

Set in the 1950’s in Paris, the first of the two x 120’ films, Maigret Sets A Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man, will go into production in September 2015, produced by Ealing Studios and Maigret Productions Ltd (a Peters Fraser Dunlop Group company) and commissioned by ITV's Director of Drama, Steve November, and Controller of Drama, Victoria Fea."

"Mr. Bean" instead of Gambon? Hmm. I'll give it a try though. I'm watching Gambon in "Fortitude" right now and that is one strange series.

 

[Pauline]

I liked Fortitude!

 

[Debra]

I liked Fortitude!

We just finished episode 3. We are watching it with a granddaughter and we end up with a lot of "pauses" because each character has so many sides. We are divided as to "good cop bad cop".

 

[SusanSeattle]

I watched part of Fortitude on my flight home from the UK. What a strange show! I didn't get to the last 2 episodes, so now I'm going to have to break down and pay for them on Amazon.
BTW, don't forget to check your library for foreign shows. Ours surprises me with what they have. I watched Inspector Montalbano (young and old) on discs from the library, and I'm waiting to get the Irene Huss series.

 

[Debra]

I watched part of Fortitude on my flight home from the UK. What a strange show! I didn't get to the last 2 episodes, so now I'm going to have to break down and pay for them on Amazon.
BTW, don't forget to check your library for foreign shows. Ours surprises me with what they have. I watched Inspector Montalbano (young and old) on discs from the library, and I'm waiting to get the Irene Huss series.

Thank you for the reminder about libraries and their DVD's. I would love to see "Montalbano".
We got Fortitude through Netflix.

 

[MelanieG]

Hi, a lot of people have probably already seen this but there is a great new FREE selection of French dramas on Channel 4's website called Walter Presents. (Unfortunately though it's only available from the UK). I've really enjoyed watching The Match, a police noir from the same director as Spiral and in a similar vein, and also Kabul Kitchen, a comedy drama based on the true stories of a French journalist who went on to set up an ex-pat restaurant/bar in Afghanistan.

 

[Pauline]

I've really enjoyed watching The Match, a police noir from the same director as Spiral ...

I'll be looking for that. I loved Spiral!!

Here is some info I found: Channel 4 - Walter Presents - a list of shows you can watch online

I can't find The Match, but @MelanieG maybe you meant Match Day:
Introduction to Match Day - Classy French noir with an unusual football setting, in which a sexy Parisian cop is drawn in to a world of greed, sex scandal and blackmail

Deutschland 83 is one of the Walter Presents shows. We watched the first two episodes but stopped because it didn't seem that good. It is a German production.

 

[MelanieG]

sorry yes, I did mean Match Day! For anyone put off by the football setting, don't be, as it focuses more on the characters with football as a backdrop. I hope you enjoy it too, I'm also a huge Spiral fan!

 

[Pauline]

We watched episode 1 of Spin last night, a French political drama and one of Walter Presents. I recognized one actor from Spiral (the lawyer in Spiral). It was good. I can't find Match Day on Catch Up TV for Channel 4, but will watch online. Thanks @MelanieG !

 

[Pauline]

Spin is turning out to be a good show. It is called Les Hommes de L'Ombre - Man of the Shadows - in French, meaning the PR person stays in the shadows. It is about two PR people running campaigns for president of France.

 

[jonathan]

Thanks for for the recommendation, @Pauline - we've watched the first 3 episodes of Spin now, and are hooked!