Mademoiselle Holmes

I had been looking forward to seeing Mademoiselle Holmes, a new-this-year French series inspired by the Victorian sleuth.  Setting it in a Nantes commissariat instead of a London private detective's home was intriguing, but mostly I wanted to see what the lead, Lola Dewaere (Astrid & Raphaelle), would do with a role that comes with the expectations/baggage of a built in fan/fanbro base.

The mademoiselle of the title is Charlie (short for Charlotte?) Holmes, a thirtysomething who lives with her grandfather Georges in an ornate probably-Victorian house in the country near Nantes.

In the world built for this series, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were real, and Charlie is Sherlock's great-granddaughter.  Georges is therefore the son of Sherlock Holmes-- which is a big deal you'd think would be developed by the writers, but it's only mentioned in passing.

Charlie has a vaguely defined psychological disorder, either depression or manic depression, much as Sherlock Holmes probably did. She admits to mood swings. But instead of a 7% solution of cocaine, Charlie takes prescriptions, referred to as her "treatment," which leaves her emotionally level but meek and unconfident. Georges is hiding or protecting her from something, because he almost uses her meds as a leash.

Both Charlie and Georges inherited their ancestor's gift for fighting crime-- but as detectives in the Police Nationale.  While the retired Georges was once commissaire (he's retired) of the station where Charlie now works, Charlie is relegated to the Complaints Desk. The current commissaire is Georges's former protege Florence, and the brigade criminelle is led by Chris (Thomas Jouannet). Chris is clearly the Lestrade here.

One day as she is walking with her new intern Samy (Tom Villa, Munch), a doctor training in forensics, Charlie is nearly run over by a car and hits her head. She subsequently decides to stop taking her meds, which is when she starts to become more Sherlockian-- as well as extroverted, less inhibited, and aspiring to crimesolving instead of taking complaints.

In episode 1, news broke about the death in London of Alexander Moriarty, head of a  family-run tabloid empire-- could there be a more appropriate modern occupation for the descendants of Holmes's archenemy? Moriarty's survivors include a daughter, April (Roxane Mesquida). Other Holmesian touches include Charlie playing the violin to concentrate, and clues such as a cameo decorated with dancing stick figures.

As the first season progresses, Charlie sets her sights on joining Chris's squad, tagging along (at first to Chris's irritation) and proving herself to Florence by solving cases, eventually earning her a spot on the team.

(The series has been renewed for a Season 2)

Episode: Mademoiselle Holmes S01E04, "Baker Street," runtime 53:43

Subtitles download link

Some of the fan reviews have been shades of negative. I'll leave an assessment of the overall first season to you, and focus instead on what I consider the best episode, Episode 4.  It has Charlie on leave following successfully solving the case in episode 3, after she won a permanent spot on Chris's team.  She and Samy go to London, ostensibly as tourists, but actually to try to connect with her SPOILER, April Moriarty. A mystery arises, involving a teenage girl who claims to have received an ominous warning from her dead sister-- vaguely like Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band, except hearing the sister's voice in addition to a whistle.  After that the story departs from Holmes canon, the biggest change being that Charlie and Samy SPOILER.

Holmes (Lola Dewaere) and... Vatel (Tom Villa).

Notes

Charlie contracts si tu aimes (If you like) to just si tu (2'21").

The exposition at 4'46" delivered by a vague character (PR rep? PA?) is a really clunky piece of writing.

I don't recall there being a bullet hole in Dr Watson's room (5'01"). The story of Sherlock shooting the wall is in The Musgrave Ritual, but there's nothing about Watson almost being hit.

The sound effect that plays when Charlie uses her super-smell, super-hearing, and super-observation (5'23", 5'51", 9'25") sure sounds like a copy of the bionic sound effect from Six Million Dollar Man.

In case you haven't seen earlier episodes, the choir that Charlie mentions (12'03") is a folk group she and Georges are in, singers and musicians who perform sea shanties. Charlie plays violin.

Eurostar (15'02") is an international European high-speed passenger rail network. It has a connection to non-European London.

Florence asks Charlie tu es fait l'anguille? (15'06"), literally 'Are you being the eel.'  Meaning, 'Is something fishy going on?'  Here I'm putting 'What're you up to'?

In frustration, Charlie exclaims D'ou clé (26'14"), which must be short for D'où est la clé, Where is the key?

For some reason Samy comments d'psy? (27'47"), 'Psychologist?', I don't know why.

In case you hadn't heard of 'banoffee' (30'46"), I hadn't, it's an English pie made of bananas and toffee.

Samy mentions that the character 'Sylvan' on Oxford Palace disappeared in a ball pit accident (32'38"), which must be one of those ball-filled pens usually for kids. Sounds odd for a Downton Abbey-ish show, but who knows.

Dewaere, with Roxane Mesquida as April.

One of the ways Emma disguised herself that Charlie mentions (41'33") is changé les couleurs de cheveux, les bouclés, 'change hair color, the curls.'  But if you go back to the photo of Emma at 9'04", we see her hair was already curly. What she did was grow it out, fait pousser les cheveux plus longs.

Recall that rosbifs (46'21") is the French pronunciation of 'roast beefs,' a nickname for the British. I've footnoted it in the subtitle to maintain the flavor.

Samy should have told the woman in the bathroom (47'45") something like "Sorry. It's okay, I'm a doctor."

Bad English accents! (53'00")

Florence-isms count: n/a

Total: 4