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"Memoires a Vif" is a 2023 Meurtres à... installment set in Valbonne, a town north of Cannes in southeastern France. The cast features Stephane Freiss as Cmdr. Cedric Bonfanti, and Samy Naceri (star of the Taxi action films) as cafe owner Marwann. Meena Rayann plays Cedric's partner Cmdr. Leila Belhassen. The historical events, important both regionally and nationally, which are highlighted in the plot encompass colonialsim, immigration, racism, and factionalism.
Cedric (Stephane Freiss) and Leila (Meena Rayann)
I considered bailing on this episode when I learned it's going to be on Mhz in September, but I kept going because it's like a jigsaw puzzle, I can't quit.
* * *
It's another sunny day in the Côte d'Azur, but it's a vexing one for Cmdr. Cedric Bonfanti, who has two independent-minded daughters. Bonfanti is heading back to work in Valbonne after several months of compassionate leave, spent with his mother in Italy. Because Cedric's family were immigrants.
Cedric is called to a homicide: the deputy mayor has been found dead, floating in his swimming pool, and tied with barbed wire. He had been expected at the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the Harkis, French Algerian army veterans. Who had to emigrate to France (not fully their idea). Cedric discovers his 'temporary' replacement, Leila Belhassen (her family were immigrants), is already at the crime scene and shows no signs of going home to Nice.
NOTES
As many as 150,000 Harkis (2'56") served in the French army during the Algerian War for Independence (1954-62). When France withdrew from Algeria, even though the Harkis were denied sanctuary by De Gaulle, tens of thousands of Harkis were still aided in entering France. As you'd expect, France didn't make life easy for them, many were made to live in camps and were generally discriminated against. In more recent decades the Harris appear to have gained a degree of truth and reconciliation.
The memorial plaque is referred to a number of times as a stèle , starting at 3'36". It means the same as in English, though it's not commonly used, so I'm translating it as 'marker.'
Diacetyl (4'33"), 'diacetyl,' is the flavoring chemical in cigarettes, and, in this case, vapes.
The Roya (4'52") is a river and valley on the border with Italy. It's about 30 miles east of Valbonne. The largest community is Breil-sur-Roya.
The benefit gala for Storm Alex victims (5'03") is to feature salsa, bachata, and kizombo styles of dancing. Bachata and kizombo are Dominican and Angolan dances, respectively. The 2020 major storm resulted in devastating destruction, flooding, and landslides.
Angelo Tommasi (10'26"), 1858-1923, was a painter whose naturalistic style was somewhat like the later French Impressionists. The Emigrants is from 1896. The original is in the National Gallery Of Modern And Contemporary Art in Rome. Remember, emigrants are leavers, immigrants (10'50") are arrivers.
The emigrants
Cedric clearly calls Madame Da Costa 'Adele La Costa' (11'18").
It sounds like Adele says "play apart " (13'10"), to describe her marriage, which I'm translating as 'we're separated.'
We have a turf war brewing, and Cedric complains to the slightly dotty Cmsr. Lefrancois about "Miss Make-up" dans les pâtés (14'24"). Dans les pâtés has a lot of different meanings, including pasta, dough, and pulp, but the one that applies here is 'toothpaste.' '“Miss Make-up” Toothpaste Commercial' seems the best way to represent the meaning being expressed.
Oh. Sharing the jade roller (17'40") doesn't seem very hygienic.
I don't know exactly what Cedric says in response to being ribbed by Leila about his awkward flirting with Lt. Collette (19'10"), but the meaning seems to be something like 'Did I seem casual?'
I have Alissa (20'52") listed as Girlfriend (of one of the brothers), but I guess she could be Leila's sister. The role is uncredited and not mentioned again.
Socca (21'32") are crispy garbanzo flatbreads from Nice.
Menorca (22'32") is one of the Balearic Islands, the others are Mallorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. The group is about 230 miles south-southwest of Marseille.
The woman giving Leila a leg wax (26'15") is listed in the credits as Dame PMU. PMU is Permanent Makeup, ie tattoos.
Rosa (33'09"), the concierge next door to the dance studio, is Liliane Rovere from Call My Agent!
Liliane Rovere as Rosa
As he and Leila are going through Rosa's CCTV files (36'01"), Cedric says: et voilà, la mort, 'And here's the death.' This doesn't make sense here, as they're just checking James's alibi.
Tao gets the closest I think Muertres à has ever gotten to a character with a catch phrase. The phrase is J'avoue, and he says it at 39'52", 58'43", 60'00", 70'01", and 71'44". J'avoue means a lot of things-- I must say, I have to say, I'll say, I admit, I'll admit, I have to admit, I have to confess, and Admittedly. I'm also translating it as 'I agree' and 'that's true.'
The right wing terrorist group OAS (43'42") was the Organisation armée secrète, 'Secret Army Organization'; they were pro-France. Their opponents on the pro-independence side were the FLN, the Front de liberation nationale ('National Liberation Front').
The film Leila watches (46'38") is C'etaits les Harkis ('They were the Harkis'), a report on an old TV news magazine called Cinq colonnes à la une ('5 Columns in the Headlines') and aired in 1963.
When the ultra-nationalist they are staking out, Nicolas, gets on his motorcycle (48'39"), Cedric says to Leila, 'I think he's going to be sledding'-- which makes no sense unless sledding is slang. I'm translating it as 'I think he's taking off.' At this point I want to observe that, while Stephane Freiss is a great actor and starred in one of the best Meurtres à episodes (Collioure, 2015, with Helena Noguerra), in Memoires a Vif his pronunciation is at times difficult to understand-- his D's, L's, and T's sound alike, and he runs words together in ways I haven't heard before. Maybe it's the sound designer's fault, or maybe he's doing a regional accent new to me.
Valmasque (50'34") is a large woodsy park in the south end of Valbonne, next to the A8 highway toll plaza.
Leila calls out to Gerard that backup is coming, and he should come out: "You don't want to come across a cobaye (guinea pig)." But the other meaning of cobaye is 'test subject,' so what kind of test would police reinforcements take? 'Target practice'!
Rivesaltes (59'40") is a town at the other end of France's Mediterranean coast, about 20 miles from the border with Spain.
Samy Naceri as Marwann
The killer starts screaming his backstory around 78'00", a lot was barely understandable. I did my best.
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