A Beautiful Mind

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E04, “La Théorie Du Tout” (The Theory of Everything), runtime 54:44
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The body of a prominent mathematician is discovered in an unexpected place: the trunk of a drug trafficker’s submerged car. The clues lead to a mysterious room, where complications ensue.

Leading suspects include an ex-con gambler, the professor’s professor son, his prodigal daughter, and the functionary of a shadowy tech corporation.

Raph is vertical again; she and Nico are observing their first anniversary. Uh-oh, Tetsuo has a dangerous secret. A mystery man is lurking around Astrid. Super(cilious) agent Dagobert reappears.


NOTES

The University of Val-de-Seine (5’28”) is made up.

5’38” c.f. : Establishing shot is from Pont Maria Pacôme (Rue Louis Blanc) looking south down the Canal Saint-Martin.

Where Tetsuo and Tanaka converse in Japanese (5’46”), I used Google Translate on the audio where possible. I got something a little different from the burned-in French subtitles.

I don’t think vilain petit canard de la famille, ‘ugly duckling of the family’ (10’09”), means precisely the same in French as in English. ‘Black sheep’ would be more appropriate for the framing, but oh well.

I managed to cut down Norah’s explanation of Diane’s record, while still conveying all the ideas.

The 17th district (10’40”) is in northwest Paris, to the west of Montmartre. It’s diverse, from the 5-star hotels near the Arc de Triomphe at one end, to the public housing blocks and massive Balzac high school at the other.

The tire track (11’50”): how could the car have been in the hallway? And Raph clearly says voiture (car).

The Riemann hypothesis (17’04”) was created by Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866), a German mathematician. The hypothesis asserts that, where ζ(s) is a complex number (ζ is zeta), “all interesting solutions of the equation ζ(s) = 0 lie on a vertical straight line.” Yeah, I don’t either. Anyway, it’s unsolved– but it has been checked to 10 trillion solutions.

Lequesnoy’s explanations about Diane (29’54”) include coup de cavalrie (it sounds like) which would mean something like ‘sudden attack/charge.’ It doesn't seem to be something people say, so I'm going to assume she said coup de connerie, and put ‘tricked us.’

Is the prize in dollars or euros?

• Tetsuo first explains (17’35”) the Riemann solution prize is a million dollars (prix d'un million de dollars)
• Carl say euros (22’13”)

Then there’s the Metacortis project funding:

• Laure says (29’49”) it was 500,000 dollars.
• Diane says she needed to give Metacortis back its 500,000 euros (37’30”)

46’08”: Astrid is referring to a few seconds earlier, where Guillaume asks his father Pourquoi vous faites ça? (Why are you doing this?) using vous instead of tu.

The Spookiness Continues

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E03 “Le boli maudit” (The Cursed Boli), runtime 51:15
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Astrid and Raph have tackled cases concerning UFOs, reincarnation, werewolves, Aztec gods, witches, golems, mediums, Mormons, and now— cursed statuettes.

The case is the murder of a retiree in his pottery workshop. Raph arrives at the scene in her wheelchair, a la Ironside. Among the clay objects is a boli, an African altar/shrine object which represents magic/power. But this one is filled with blood.

(L-R) Charlotte Gaccio as Delphine, Sophia Yamna as Norah, Lola Dewaere as Raphaëlle, and Benoit Michel as Nicolas.

Heritage issues are a further complication, as the boli was stolen by a French land rapist during the colonial era.

It is also believed to be cursed, meaning that Raph and Nico get to go back and forth about rationality again. An African art expert is consulted. Profiler Delphine Simon returns. Raph is not optimistic about her rehab, and asks the social skills workshop for advice. Colonialism gets more negative publicity. Raph is surprised with a job offer.


NOTES

4’29”: Fact check– True.

The African Worlds Institute (5’01”) is real, located in the real world at 12 Rue de Fillettes.

The Jacques Files, part 2

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E02, “Le Pensionnat” (Boarding School), runtime 49:32
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The Léo Dumas case continues– and it’s equally a case about Jacques Slimani and Overlook, the boarding school he attended. Raph is perplexed by how rich her life was in the coma; fearing being sidelined, she goes AWOL from the hospital. The surviving ghost debunkers burgle Overlook to make up for the lack of a search warrant, emerging with what could be a ghost trap or maybe just a canister vacuum cleaner. What does it do? Who is Raph’s ghost buddy Hubert? What clues point back to rising guest star Alice ‘the Selena Gomez of France’ Cornillac? Will Mulder and Scully be dropping by?

Benoit Michel in front of the Fondation de Rosa Abreu de Grancher

NOTES

3’04” c.f.: Now that it’s been established that Odin is an acronym, I’ll be spelling it ODIN, and treating them as plural as needed.

6’48”: Astrid has a ‘horseshoe puzzle,’ but of course in French the H is silent, so it sounds like ‘or-shoo puzzl.’
      Il était trop pris, ‘it is too taken/caught,’ I think means it preoccupies her.

A tableur (11’59”) isn’t a painting, it’s a spreadsheet or table.

Heures sup' (14’21”) means ‘overtime’/OT.

A 10-31 (19’12”) is ‘crime in progress/pick up suspect.’

The vacuum cleaner (20’41”) actually does look like a gammagraph.

The Actemium Gam80 gammagraph

21’06”: Carl reminds the team that the vacuum cleaner is evidence on pourra jamais l'intégrer dans la procédure (we will never be able to integrate it into the procedure). I have to shorten it to ‘it’s procedurally excluded.’

Raph talks about laisser des plumes, ‘lose feathers’ (23’44”), meaning to suffer damage.

The ‘Institute for Paranormal Studies’ building (25’03”) is the Fondation de Rosa Abreu de Grancher at 59A Boulevard Jourdan, a student dorm in the international enclave of the University of Paris.
      It’s at this point that the episode starts to feel like a backdoor pilot for Ghost Debunkers.

The Hopital l’Est Parisien (28’09”) is a private hospital in Aulnay-sous-bois, east of Paris. It is not the hospital shown at 2’03”.

Feathers again.  ‘The feather of the flying elephant’ (38’50”) is, of course, a Dumbo reference.

45’44”: It sounds like Nico is describing an Ironman suit. Jean Slimani just walked out of his lab in one, killed Leo, and returned it? Sure.

Dead, but got better

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E01, “La mort de Raphaëlle” (The Death of Raphaëlle), runtime 46:10
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The sixth season opens in the ambulance as poisoned-by-Lamarck Raph is rushed to the hospital from Astrid and Tetsuo’s interrupted courthouse wedding. It’s a close call. The poison affected her nervous system, leaving her unable to walk. Astrid Facetimes with Raph to involve her in a new case: a man found crushed under a piano that mysteriously fell on him from the other side of a room. Another clue is bent spoons. Presumably Uri Geller was not in the vicinity.

(L-R) Dewaere, Michel, Yamna, and Mortensen.

The victim was, it seems, a ‘ghost debunker,’ and his co-debunkers help the squad focus on a medium who helps his (and sometimes her) very powerful clients communicate with the dead; Nico has a spooky run-in with a medium; a cardiac patient befriends Raph; Astrid sets up a satellite archive in Raph’s hospital room; Théo (remember him?) is afraid to visit his mom in the hospital; reality gets somewhat bent.


NOTES

Dimethylmercury (0’15”) is really bad news.
      VX is a chemical warfare nerve agent and is Dimethylmercury’s evil-er twin.

1’11”: I’m changing ‘shock’ to ‘clear’ because that’s what we say in the US.
      They stop after only one shock?

Astrid addresses Raphaëlle as Raph (7’23” c.f.), I think this is a first. I listened very carefully, I don’t hear a breathy -aëlle tacked on.

Dr William G. Roll (11’14”) was a parapsychologist at the University of West Georgia, known for his work on poltergeists.
      The name of a paranormal researcher may be mentioned, it sounds like Matrice, but it’s from a video and the audio is distorted. I’m omitting it.

Défonce tout le monde, ‘smashed everyone’ (12’18”), means outdistancing one’s competitors. I’m putting ‘blew everyone away.’

Tronches (19’56”) means ‘familiar faces,’ or ordinary.

Epinay-sur-Orge (26’04”) is a suburb 9 miles south of Paris. It has no Police Judiciaire office.

This is the first time I’ve heard Sacrée bécane!, ‘Holy bike!’ (28’18”). I’m leaving it that way because it’s cute.

Fais de la figuration (29’09”) is also a new one, it means ‘to be an extra,’ like in a movie.

Le plus ouf means ‘the craziest thing.’ Ouf usually means ‘phew.’
      Malabar is apparently an Indian word that means ‘bruiser/big strong guy.’

The full name of Tracfin (32’29”), the financial intelligence unit, is Processing Intelligence and Action Against Clandestine Financial Channels. It looks for money laundering, terrorism financing and the like

34’54”: I normally translate sur haut-parleur (on speakerphone) as ‘on speaker,’ but I think Astrid would say ‘on speakerphone.’

URSSAF, Unions de Recouvrement des Cotisations de Sécurité Sociale et d'Allocations Familiales (37’00”), ‘Organizations for the Collection of Social Security and Family Benefit Contributions’ collect and distribute social security taxes for a number of purposes, including the health system. It is a network of government-regulated private organizations.

42’47”: Warning Astrid not to step on a conversational landmine, Nico says what sounds like à nasse, à naz, or à naze. Nasse means ‘trap’ and naz sometimes means ‘dud.’ And naze means ‘worthless/pointless.’

Fellow travelers

Capitaine Marleau #38, “Compagnon” (Companion), runtime 1:34:36
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Marleau is called to an unusual vocational school, where locksmithing student Antoine Bardet has been found dead beside the scattered pieces of clockmaking student Maëlle’s juried project. The school is run by the Compagnons des Oeuvres (Companions of the Works), a 12th century order.

There are a number of potential suspects, and Marleau immediately focuses on Maëlle. But Bruno the provost is a liar, Mimi the caretaker knows more than she’s saying, and Yoann the thief/builder certainly has motive. And what about Bruno’s secretive wife Sandra, who clearly married down? Is there a cover up? More than one?

Corinne Masiero with Fleur Fitoussi (L) and Andranic Manet

MISC

Anyone wanting the best version of my subtitles should probably wait until a couple of days following the first post, I update when I notice issues on subsequent views. 

Companions of the Works is based on Compagnons du Devoir du Tour de France (Companions of Duty Traveling France), a group which originated during the Middle Ages. They train and network artisans and craftspeople who travel around France practicing their skills.

The Companions’ bastion/citadel is played by the Abbaye Royale du Moncel, a wedding venue in Pontpoint.

Helena Noguerra starred with Stephane Freiss in Meurtres a Collioure.

Fleur Fitoussi plays Maëlle, I expect she’s the latest member of the Fitoussi acting family to emerge. Her dad is Marc Fitoussi, a writer/director. How they’re related to Gregory and Mikael Fitoussi, I have no idea.


NOTES

Ah ça y est (00’23”) is voila’s weird cousin, it can mean ‘Here you are,’ but also ‘I’ve got it,’ ‘There you go,’ and ‘Here we go.’

The role of the clockwork walker (1’00”) is played by an automate, ‘automaton,’ a kinetic sculpture made in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, a village long associated with the artform.