Ardennes, “Secrets,” runtime 1:30:32
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Ardennes is a new treat from director Josée Dayan (Capitaine Marleau) and her Passion Films production house. Subtitled “Secrets,” it is clearly a pilot.
Who are Dr. Olivier Rimbaud (David Hallyday from Capitaine Marleau, “À contre courant”) and his ‘housekeeper’ Olga (Bénédicte Cerutti)? Where do they really come from, what are they hiding (other than their matching tattoos), and whom or what are they hiding from? What are they up to in their Batcave beneath Olivier’s sumptuous chateau?
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| (L-R) Bénédicte Cerutti, Luba Azabal, Ben Attal, David Hallyday |
Why does everything teen Zoé (Aminthe Audiard) sees turn hot pink when she's under stress, and why does she think she's actually a ghost? Just how badass but vulnerable is Cmdr. Anna Charrou (Luba Azabal)? Will she and Olivier be able to find and stop a serial kidnapper/murderer? What is causing the strange malady interfering with Anna’s— social life, let’s say. Is Olivier keeping fit, or combat-ready? And why is that almost-albino guy watching the chateau?
“Secrets” does a good job switching between the plotlines, and manages to fit in a couple of unexpected twists. It's fun when Rimbaud uses some of his psychiatrist skills to change the course of the investigation (or cover something up). It's all a very entertaining setup for what will hopefully become a long-running series.
MISC
Ardennes is not yet listed in IMDB.
“Secrets” does a good job switching between the plotlines, and manages to fit in a couple of unexpected twists. It's fun when Rimbaud uses some of his psychiatrist skills to change the course of the investigation (or cover something up). It's all a very entertaining setup for what will hopefully become a long-running series.
MISC
Ardennes is not yet listed in IMDB.
Ardennes is a forested department in northern France, on the border with Belgium. Its major city is Charleville-Mézières. Ardennes also refers to a region shared by the two countries and Luxembourg. The Battle of the Bulge happened there in late 1944-early 1945.
Charleville-Mézières is the birthplace of the poet Arthur Rimbaud.
The late reveal that SPOILER is not the brother of SPOILER, but a contractor for Olivier and Olga’s mysterious adversary, is a really well-done twist that I did not see coming.
The sound you hear in your phone earpiece while the call you’re making is ringing is called the ‘ringback.’
NOTES
Dr. Sekou says, Mais c'est l'événement terre? Là c'est raté, ‘Is it a ground occurence/event? It’s a mistake.’ (1’55”), I think he means the cellar doesn't go with her rock climbing clothes. It’s not much of a joke.
When Anna comments lapin blanc, ‘white rabbit,’ she’s responding to Sekou saying he wasn’t finished, had been interrupted. We don’t have the ‘white rabbit’ superstition in my region, so I had to look this up. I think Anna means ‘with luck, the interruption will continue.’
When they arrive at the clinic (6’50”), there’s no wider establishing shot. This caused some confusion for me, which I go into in the note for 71’25”.
Mais ici (7’08”) literally means ‘but here.’ But here it seems to indicate insistence.
C'est bien vrai means ‘that’s quite true,’ which can also be expressed as ‘I hear you.’
Ou on appelez la direction, ‘or we call management,’ seems an odd way to end this request, but that’s the line.
It would be funny if Maud (7’25”) were a trained commando and keeps weapons behind the reception desk.
The role of Olivier’s home is played by the 15th-century Chateau de Montmort (7’46”), located in Montmort-Lucy, in the department of Marne.
Olivier’s car collection includes a classic Aston Martin and maybe a ‘67 Mustang fastback.
8’55”: If the hospital had warned him, I guess that means Rimbaud’s clinic is on the hospital grounds, and maybe Maud is a university employee.
Bassin d’epuration (10’25”) means ‘wastewater/sewage treatment basin.’ The technical term is ‘settling pond/basin,’ but they’re referring here to the entire treatment plant. I’ll fit-in ‘settling pond’ later.
14’29”: Poor Jeff.
19’42”: Is Olga some kind of fugitive nun?
20’04”: Is that Alexa?
The PDQ-4 (21’09”) is the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire - 4th Edition, used to screen for personality disorders.
Témoin en carton, ‘cardboard witness’ (23’54”), is like a cardboard cutout: pointless/useless.
It sounds like Olivier says, as long as he thought a lawyer le tirait de l'âme, ‘draw/pull out his soul’ (28’19”), which is no idiom I can find. <Shrug>
La Pitié (Mercy), Sainte-Anne, and Hôtel-Dieu (House of God) (32’05”) are all major Paris public hospitals. They are part of a group of 38 university hospitals in the Paris region, which is the largest such network in Europe.
A champagne Moscow Mule (33’40”) would be champagne, ginger beer, and lime juice. It sounds atrocious.
34’29”: Just assuming this is Ukrainian, since the matryoshka came from there. And Google Translate understands it.
Anna is still moving into her apartment (34’35”)— where did she live before? Why did she leave? She’s not a new transfer, she’s obviously not new to her team.
Does Olga have a hidden agenda (37’48”)?
44’33”: Anna mentions the cellar where Lucie was found as on/at Place de la République, but Charleville-Mézières doesn’t have a Place de la République. There is a Rue de la République, but it leads to Place Ducale.
IJ (48’29”) is L'identité Judiciaire, a generic name for Forensics.
Anna says the suspect fled and c'est le ralenti, ‘it’s slow-motion’ (50’44”), as in instant-replay.
Battue (55’53”) means ‘beat,’ as in ‘beat the bushes,’ but I’ll put ‘manhunt’ as it’s more descriptive than just ‘search.’
Here’s a fun one: quiproquo (58’21”) means misunderstanding/wires crossed.
59’11”: Actually, Olivier said his father was a worker. I don’t remember him telling Anna anything about his family.
The old fort (60’00”) is probably Fort des Ayvelles, which is south of Charleville-Mézières. It only dates from the late 19th century.
J'ai eu un bol, ‘I had bowl’ (63’41”), means ‘I was/got lucky.’ Similarly, coup de bol is ‘stroke of luck.’ The common explanation for bol = luck does not shed light on the matter, as it has to do with bol being medieval slang for ‘ass.’
The official synopses for Ardennes describe Rimbaud as seeing patients in his chateau, so I’ve been assuming the clinic was in a part of the house close to a street. But these three shots (71’25”: )– in the clinic office, then driving up to the chateau and entering it– seems to confirm that the clinic is somewhere else. Unless the house is so massive that he has to drive from one side to the other.
72’37”: I don’t know what kind of canines.
Les Couleurs que nul ne voit, ‘The Colors No One Sees’ (81’55”), could be The Colors We Can’t See, a 2025 book by Omi Reimer.
Charleville-Mézières is the birthplace of the poet Arthur Rimbaud.
The late reveal that SPOILER is not the brother of SPOILER, but a contractor for Olivier and Olga’s mysterious adversary, is a really well-done twist that I did not see coming.
The sound you hear in your phone earpiece while the call you’re making is ringing is called the ‘ringback.’
NOTES
Dr. Sekou says, Mais c'est l'événement terre? Là c'est raté, ‘Is it a ground occurence/event? It’s a mistake.’ (1’55”), I think he means the cellar doesn't go with her rock climbing clothes. It’s not much of a joke.
When Anna comments lapin blanc, ‘white rabbit,’ she’s responding to Sekou saying he wasn’t finished, had been interrupted. We don’t have the ‘white rabbit’ superstition in my region, so I had to look this up. I think Anna means ‘with luck, the interruption will continue.’
When they arrive at the clinic (6’50”), there’s no wider establishing shot. This caused some confusion for me, which I go into in the note for 71’25”.
Mais ici (7’08”) literally means ‘but here.’ But here it seems to indicate insistence.
C'est bien vrai means ‘that’s quite true,’ which can also be expressed as ‘I hear you.’
Ou on appelez la direction, ‘or we call management,’ seems an odd way to end this request, but that’s the line.
It would be funny if Maud (7’25”) were a trained commando and keeps weapons behind the reception desk.
The role of Olivier’s home is played by the 15th-century Chateau de Montmort (7’46”), located in Montmort-Lucy, in the department of Marne.
Olivier’s car collection includes a classic Aston Martin and maybe a ‘67 Mustang fastback.
8’55”: If the hospital had warned him, I guess that means Rimbaud’s clinic is on the hospital grounds, and maybe Maud is a university employee.
Bassin d’epuration (10’25”) means ‘wastewater/sewage treatment basin.’ The technical term is ‘settling pond/basin,’ but they’re referring here to the entire treatment plant. I’ll fit-in ‘settling pond’ later.
14’29”: Poor Jeff.
19’42”: Is Olga some kind of fugitive nun?
20’04”: Is that Alexa?
The PDQ-4 (21’09”) is the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire - 4th Edition, used to screen for personality disorders.
Témoin en carton, ‘cardboard witness’ (23’54”), is like a cardboard cutout: pointless/useless.
It sounds like Olivier says, as long as he thought a lawyer le tirait de l'âme, ‘draw/pull out his soul’ (28’19”), which is no idiom I can find. <Shrug>
La Pitié (Mercy), Sainte-Anne, and Hôtel-Dieu (House of God) (32’05”) are all major Paris public hospitals. They are part of a group of 38 university hospitals in the Paris region, which is the largest such network in Europe.
A champagne Moscow Mule (33’40”) would be champagne, ginger beer, and lime juice. It sounds atrocious.
34’29”: Just assuming this is Ukrainian, since the matryoshka came from there. And Google Translate understands it.
Anna is still moving into her apartment (34’35”)— where did she live before? Why did she leave? She’s not a new transfer, she’s obviously not new to her team.
Does Olga have a hidden agenda (37’48”)?
44’33”: Anna mentions the cellar where Lucie was found as on/at Place de la République, but Charleville-Mézières doesn’t have a Place de la République. There is a Rue de la République, but it leads to Place Ducale.
IJ (48’29”) is L'identité Judiciaire, a generic name for Forensics.
Anna says the suspect fled and c'est le ralenti, ‘it’s slow-motion’ (50’44”), as in instant-replay.
Battue (55’53”) means ‘beat,’ as in ‘beat the bushes,’ but I’ll put ‘manhunt’ as it’s more descriptive than just ‘search.’
Here’s a fun one: quiproquo (58’21”) means misunderstanding/wires crossed.
59’11”: Actually, Olivier said his father was a worker. I don’t remember him telling Anna anything about his family.
The old fort (60’00”) is probably Fort des Ayvelles, which is south of Charleville-Mézières. It only dates from the late 19th century.
J'ai eu un bol, ‘I had bowl’ (63’41”), means ‘I was/got lucky.’ Similarly, coup de bol is ‘stroke of luck.’ The common explanation for bol = luck does not shed light on the matter, as it has to do with bol being medieval slang for ‘ass.’
The official synopses for Ardennes describe Rimbaud as seeing patients in his chateau, so I’ve been assuming the clinic was in a part of the house close to a street. But these three shots (71’25”: )– in the clinic office, then driving up to the chateau and entering it– seems to confirm that the clinic is somewhere else. Unless the house is so massive that he has to drive from one side to the other.
72’37”: I don’t know what kind of canines.
Les Couleurs que nul ne voit, ‘The Colors No One Sees’ (81’55”), could be The Colors We Can’t See, a 2025 book by Omi Reimer.
“Do you know whether this is a standalone TV movie or the start of a series? The information on websites is conflicting.”
ReplyDeleteIt's listed on France.tv as S01E01. Other episodes are supposedly being written but Passion Films and France.tv probably haven't made a production deal yet. "Secrets" has been a big ratings hit, by the way.
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