Les Revenants
CREATED BY: Fabrice Gobert, BASED ON: 'They Came Back' (2004), STARRING: Jenna Thain, Anne Consigny, Clotilde Hesme, RUN TIME: 52 minutes (Approx)., RELEASE: 2012-2015, LANGUAGE: French
The small community of a French mountain is suddenly shattered when members of its population that have since died begin turning up alive and well with no knowledge of their own deaths. The returned try to restart their lives as they each realize that they are not the only ones out there to have come back. However, strange things begin to happen and the community finds itself divided as a series of murders that have the familiarity of the acts of a serial killer from the past start to rear their head.
Now, I've not seen the Zombie film that this series is based on and oddly enough, to be honest, it really doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. With one exception I'm really not into any of that Zombie rubbish (sorry Zombie fans), it bores me. I found this series purely by chance whilst having a Google for something new to watch and boy, am I glad I did. Les Revenants (or The Returned) is a beautifully made supernatural drama.
There is an American remake/adaptation of this series called Resurrection but, to be honest, I took a look at it didn't have any redeeming qualities about it whatsoever. Not nearly the charm that Les Revenants festoons itself in. This is a dark, morose drama that is set amongst the backdrop of some gorgeous French scenery complimented by delightfully fantastic cinematography. The pacing of this remarkable series is typically French in its delivery, in that it takes a slow, methodical character driven approach in its execution. Les Revenants is fairly character heavy. However, I don't fall foul to the mistake of trying to rush through the character stories but instead, dedicates an episode to each new undead arrival whilst continuing the stories of the ones that have come before them.
The atmosphere and overall feel is wonderfully sombre and moody and the script is so well written that there just isn't a weaker episode amongst the eight of season one. It's just ridiculously consistent in every way and displays all the qualities and standards that every series should strive to achieve. As I said, Les Revenants has many characters, so I'm not really going to go into them, you are just going to have to discover them for yourselves. That being said, it would be unforgivably remiss of me not to mention two of my favourites; Camille and Lena. Camille (Yara Pilartz) and Lena (Jenna Thiam) are twin sisters.
Jenna Thaim as Lena with Yara Pilartz as Camille
Camille is the first of the returned that we get to meet as a fifteen-year-old girl that died in a bus crash, she returns home to discover that her twin sister has is now for years older than her. Both these young women give such hearted and believable performances that they really do steal the show. They work so well on-screen together that it actually feels like they have a genuinely close connection to each other like they have known each other forever. I don't know much at all about French cinema, television or actresses at all, I'll be honest. However, I cannot imagine that they could have found a better paring than these two magnificent actresses.
If you don't mind subtitles then you should give this program a look. It really is worth your time. If you don't, then I would implore you to give this a go anyway. You might be pleasantly surprised. If not, all I can say is that you are missing out on a great show. Just give it a try.