HPI S04E08, "Ultraviolet"

Episode: Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S04E08, "Ultraviolet," runtime: 59:41 Subtitles download link

I'm returning to the .srt format until I decide about .ssa.

This concludes Series 4 of HPI.

The birth is near, Morgane is going stir crazy at home, and the karma pigeon has moved on to another 'client.'  Timothee is acting like a normal expectant father, focused on setting up the nursery, listing baby names, and trying to take the mind of the mother of his child off a murder case.

The case involves the murder of an ophthalmologic surgeon, and it's somewhat like a 70s mystery in that we may see whodunit at the beginning.  What we don't see is the victim's partner actually committing the crime, just his weird manner after phoning for help. So there's an added uncertainty to the ensuing Columbo-style cat & mouse game, in addition to a funny science knowledge oneupmanship between Morgane and the doctor. Finally, it's Afida's dogged pursuit of her 30 euros that leads to a clarification of the question of paternity.

Eric Caravaca as Dr Decker

NOTES

Dr Decker says he is working on an article for La Revue Française d'Ophtalmologie (3'17"), 'The French Ophthalmology Review.'  Later, Gilles says he verified that Decker was at the 'French Ophthalmology Bulletin' (10'58").  In reality, the publication of the French Society of Opthalmology is the Journal français d'ophtalmologie.

Daphne deducts 20% of something that sounds like com when calculating the outcome of her name-the-baby-daddy contest (13'47"). I think this means 'advertising,' so I assume she means her costs of running the contest.

Bérangère McNeese as Daphné

It sounds like Gilles contracts tellement (so very) to tellem' (14'09").

Then Daphne argues with Afida about her contest entry, and Afida says what sounds like n'y à ou près, 'It's there or near' (14'37"), which I'm translating as 'Close enough.'

Morgane has a flash involving Léon: The Professional (23'41"). A Jean Reno lookalike appears.

Audrey Fleurot and uncredited actor as Léon 

I'm putting 'Holy cow' instead of 'the cow' (26'39").

Adieu, Henri (Rufus)

'Police everywhere, justice nowhere!' (41'37") is a protest slogan that seems to be popular everywhere but in the U.S.  It's also a favorite of Capitaine Marleau.

SAMU (43'29") is Service d'Aide Médicale Urgente, the national paramedic/ambulance service.

Celine says the judge will issue un mandat de recherche, 'a search warrant' (46'56") for Yohann Marouani. But they're searching for him to arrest him, so it's really an arrest warrant.

Paracetamol (48'09") is what acetaminophen is called in Europe, although there it also comes in a pleasantly strange chewable form, like what I once got from a Paris drugstore for a pulled muscle.

When Morgane tells Karadec to use the gyro (flasher) this time (56'17"), his response indicates she meant the siren too. So I'm putting 'lights & siren.'

At 58'01" Morgane says donc, uh, pou-pou y a! to the bailiff. I have no idea what that means literally, but the little hand gesture probably means something like 'end of discussion.' I've put 'case closed.'

HPI S04E07, "Mosaïque"

Episode: Haut potentiel intellectuel, "Mosaïque" (Mosaic), runtime: 57:11 Subtitles Download Link

With this episode I am experimenting with using the .ssa file format. I have been assured there is no problem with compatibility across players.

In addition, the video copy I acquired has hardcoded French subtitles. I assume everyone has this copy for now, so I have set a black background for subtitles so it covers over the hardcoded ones when needed.

Morgane is now 8 months pregnant. Karadec, now aware he may not be the baby daddy, isn't letting her slow down and is basically being a jerk.  Morgane may not want to stay home anyway, because she now has the solicitous Timothee and David underfoot in addition to the kids, Ludo, Afida, and Marie. Worse, Morgane can't get away from Timothee, David, and Karadec-- even at work, and certainly not at birthing class.

Ginnie Watson as Wendy

The investigation focuses on the murder of Wendy Veron, a social media influencer found dead in a disused cement factory. The suspects are her husband, a stalker-fan, a cafeteria worker and her father, and a marketing worker who often lunched with the victim.

Jeremy Lewin as Timothée

NOTES

Seclin (2'45") is a town of approximately 12,600 about 4 miles south of Lille.

Tourcoing (21'15"), pronounced tor-quan (very soft N), is a town that lies between Lille and the border with Belgium. Tourcoing and Seclin are on opposite sides of Lille. Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing comprise a tri-cities of adjoining municipalities.

Small and medium-sized businesses (21'45") are called PME, petite et moyenne entreprise.

'Love handles' (22'34") is the same in French, poignées d'amour.

A caca nerveux, 'nervous poop,' (24'08") is a hissy fit.

Speculoos (25'08") is a gingerbread cookie also known as Biscoffs. They are frequently served by airlines.

Martial is from Terrenoire (28'22"), 20 miles southwest of Lyon in the Loire department. Formerly an independent town, it is now a suburb of Saint-Etienne.

There are normally pairs of chromosomes in DNA. When there is a third chromosome (31'32") it is called trisomy. A person with three copies of chromosome 21 have Down syndrome. It can also be called "trisomy 21."

HPI S04E06, "Coccinella septempunctata"

Episode: Haut potentiel intellectuel S04E06, "Coccinella septempunctata" (Seven-spot Ladybug), runtime 59:27

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HPI gets a small story arc, as the team is given the Emma Perrin missing person case that was unsolved at the end of "L'effet râteau." Clues lead Morgane and Karadec to an adventure tourism/prepper group in Brittany, and an unexpected family reunion.

On the home front, Karadec finally admits he remembers his one night with Morgane. The fling with Afida gets complicated for Gilles. Morgane gets more houseguests.

Due to the comments in a DM from a subtitles downloader, in this subtitles file I'm pausing the use of "\h" for positioning, as it is not supported by some video players, and I will try to find a resolution going forward. I may post copies in another format that has positioning support, such as .ssa .

NOTES

Gilles tries to explain to Morgane what she caught he and Afida doing in episode 5, j'avais des fourmis dans les jambes (7'05"), 'I had ants in my legs.' which means 'tingling.'

Did Gilles learn nothing from pandemic lockdown? He licks his finger (10'46") before counting meal vouchers.

Galettes (15'55") are crepe-like thin buckwheat pancakes. The traditional Breton hats (chapeaux ronds) have a round top and a wide upturned brim.

Something I haven't seen before. Karadec phones Celine (18'08") and says, 'Yeah, it's me." But instead of saying Ouais, c'est moi, he truncates it: Ouais, c'e.

If Kermolen (21'00", 22'22") is supposed to be a town, it is fictional. Ker- is a common opening for place names in Brittany, in the Breton language Ker means 'home' or 'inhabited place.'

C'est les bulots de midi qui sont pas passés? (22'02") doesn't make any sense, it literally means 'It's the midday whelks/bullocks that don't go,' which is not any idiom that I can find. I thought it might be boulots (job) instead of bulots, but she clearly says bu and not bou.

To clarify, DIPJ (30'25") is the Interregional Directorate of the Judicial Police, meaning it is made up of "territorial services" with responsibility for serious & organized crime and terrorism.

Morgane meets Mrs Karadec (Afida Tahri)

The first explanation Morgane gives to Mama Karadec (30'33") of her role at the PJ is that she is Le coup de pouce (the kick in the pants), OR, Le coup d'epouse (wife who hits). The former makes sense, it means approximately the same as 'helps them out.' But when she tries a second time (30'53"), the context cries out to be translated as 'work wife.'

Digeo (31'48") comes from digestif  and means liquor. Here I would translate it as 'nightcap,' except Morgane examines the wine bottle the others had with dinner.

The flashback (32'53") to when we first learned of La Pointue (Pointy), the Karadecs' vacation home, is from S03E08, Kikeriki.

The Alessi Brothers (51'41") was a Seventies pop duo. Besides "Seabird" (1976), their other hits include "Lori" (1977) and "Savin' The Day" (1984).

PQ (57'34"), papier queue, is TP, toilet paper.

HPI S04E05, "L'effet râteau"

Episode: Haut potentiel intellectuel S04E05, "L'effet râteau" (The Rake Effect), runtime 55:23

Subtitles download link

Midseason premiere. As this episode begins, Morgane is very pregnant now. She's still trying to build good karma, but it's tough for her to be selfless with Ludo and Afida still living with her and the kids. Also trying her patience is Karadec, who returns to work at the PJ brigade criminelle (Gilles couldn't be more thrilled), but doesn't remember having sex with Morgane. Thea is worried about child support, and schemes to acquire potential father DNA samples for paternity tests.

Myra Tyliann as Afida.

This episode's case concerns a woman found dead in her bathtub, electrocuted, and Morgane deduces it is murder, not an accident. Daphne runs the DNA evidence and gets a series of hits-- deaths of women stretching back several years, but ruled accidental. The group reopens the old cases, and soon the PJ office is jammed with detectives and officials wanting to get in on the action.

NOTES

CloClo (2'22") was the nickname of the multi-talented Claude Francois, a singer/songwriter/musician who died in 1978 due to an accidental electrocution in his bathroom. He may be best known as  co-author of the song "Comme d'habitude" ('As Per Usual,' 1967), on which Paul Anka based his later adaptation, "My Way." 

Morgane refers to the victim as a catoche (4'14"), which is Spanish for 'bad mood.' I have no idea what it means for the French, I can only imagine it's something like 'Dying can ruin your whole day.'

Interesting pronunciation thing: Instead of saying Je savais pas (I didn't know) in full (10'51"), Daphne shortens it, ever so slightly, to Je savais p'.

Daphne tells Morgane that she'll lose her good karma if she doesn't find Afida an apartment that is "at least a T4."  A T4 means a living room and 3 other rooms, PLUS bathroom and kitchen.

The banner Gilles has organized for Karadec's return reads Welcome Back in English (11'50").

Lille-Sud, 'Lille South' (17'18") is probably a reference to Solidarité Et Jalons Pour Le Travail, an employment training organization located in the Lille-South district. The Lille University Hospital Center (CHU) is also located here.

The OCRVP (25'02") is the Central Office for Repression of Violence Against Persons, a Judicial Police unit that is also involved in anti-organized crime work.

Arras (33'05") is a city of about 45,000 about 20 miles south of Lille. It was known as Nemetacum in Roman times. Arras was a major producer of tapestries in the 15th century; in Hamlet, Polonius was hiding behind an 'arras' when he was stabbed.

Morgane catches Thea and Eliott at the station, and he lamely claims, On fait in tri selectif (We're doing a selective sorting), for school (33'51"). Tri selectif means 'waste separation,' such as for recycling. I'm putting 'wastestream sorting.'

Meurtres a... "La malédiction du lys"

Meurtres à... “La malédiction du lys” (Curse of the Lily), runtime 1:32:14 Subtitles download link

This installment is set in Bordeaux, when it airs on MHZ it will probably be retitled Murders in Bordeaux 2, or maybe 3. It stars Erika Sainte (The Crimson Rivers) as Clémence Lacoste, and David Baïot (L'art du crime S06E01, "La nouvelle Olympia") as Antoine Rosy. Lacoste and Rosy are made to team up to solve the death of politically connected real estate developer Hervé Landry, whose murder (at his elegant mansion, discovered by friends arriving for his birthday party) bears similarities to old slave punishments-- naked, muzzled, and bound, a fleur-de-lis branded on the back of one shoulder.

David Baïot (L) and Erika Sainte.

Rosy is introduced as being with the Police Nationale's Domestic Intelligence unit, assigned just in case the murder was motivated by politics or terrorism.  Lacoste is headed back to work following time off after being shot while attempting to arrest a criminal named Goran, who she was able to kill. Or so everyone thinks.

Difficulties arise when Lacoste reveals her personal connections to Landry and his friends, and then when BLM activist Anta Gomis informs Rosy that Lacoste's ancestors are on a list (missing) of Bordelaise families who were involved in the African slave trade. 

NOTES

Yes, Hervé has named his urban renewal project New Port (0'41"), the English 'new' plus 'port' pronounced the French way.

What IMDB has done now

I have discovered that IMDB is no longer treating Muertres à... as a series, and is instead treating each episode as a standalone movie. This means you can't anymore go to a Muertres à series page and select the episode list. The reorganization (or unorganization) happened some time between August 9 and 20. As a result, Opensubtitles has automatically followed suit, and the series page is gone. The exception are the Unassigned Episodes, which are now listed together on pages for each season. 

This makes it harder to find Muertres à subtitles, now you have to know the correct title and use Opensubtitles Search, or use VLC with the VLsub tool installed. Of course a third option is this blog. 

Meurtres à... “Memoires à Vif”

Muertres à... "Memoires a Vif" (Raw Memories), runtime 1:28:55
Subtitles download link

"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.

Meurtres à Arles

Meurtres à... Arles (Murders in... Arles), runtime 1:28:09 Subtitles download link

Arles is a city of 50-55,000 located above the delta where the Rhone flows into the Mediterranean. The region is called the Camargue, and is known for its Roman antiquities, connections to Picasso, Gauguin, and Van Gogh, and the Camargue style of bullfighting in which the bull is not killed.

As the story opens, the annual Herdsmen's Games are underway in the two-millennia-old Arles Amphitheatre. As the new Arles Queen is being introduced by the lovely Dolores, a horse drawn carriage enters the arena-- carrying the bloody body of Julien Brunet, businessman and president of the festival organization.

The police immediately spring into action, because Capt. Sarah Cortes (Constance Gay of Face à Face) is in the audience. She calls in her partner and bestie Cmdr. Lucas Pujol (François-David Cardonnel, Hugues on Le Bazar de la Charité), and their snarky lieutenant Marianne (Elodie Poux), and the team is on the case. The suspects: Aline the new Queen; Julien's brother Rémy, a councilman; Isabelle, a sound technician; Aline's father Emile; and maybe Dolores herself. But what about suspects not on the list?

Sarah and Lucas (Constance Gay (L) and François-David Cardonnel) touch base with Marianne (Elodie Poux), who is hilarious.

NOTES

The Arles Amphitheatre (0'11") dates to 90 A.D.

Sarah and her boyfriend Alex are on their way to the capelado (0'49"), the ceremony honoring raseteurs (bullfighters) and gardiens (herdsmen). Capelado comes from an old word meaning hat; notice the hat Alex is wearing.

Meurtres à Bayeux

Meurtres à Bayeux is an entry in the Meurtres à... (Murders in...) procedural anthology series/tourism promotion.*

A few words about the Meurtres a... formula-- and it does have one. Generally, the murder takes place in a location having some scenic, historical, or cultural significance. Usually it pits man and woman detectives against each other-- often one of them is a hotshot from out of town, the other a local who resents the carpetbagger. They are forced to work together, sparks fly (it doesn't hurt that they're both usually drop dead gorgeous), and by the end of the 90 minutes they have gotten together.

Sometimes they vary the formula-- the detectives might be a father and daughter, or brothers, or sisters, or a married couple, or a divorced couple, or mother and son, or nun and son (yes, it has happened), or a cop and a prosecutor, or cop and a pathologist, or a cop and an author, or even a cop and a pathologist/author. In Meurtres a Lille 2 (2018) the team was a woman commander and a gay captain-- but they wound up together anyway. But man and woman detectives meeting cute over a corpse is the standard equation.

Meurtres à... Bayeux (Murders in... Bayeux), runtime 1:32:01.

Subtitles download link

Lord John Dewish, expat British royal living in Normandy, is found dead-- apparently shot from his horse with an arrow to the eye, the same death as Harold as portrayed in the famous Bayeux tapestry.

The main protagonist is Gendarmerie Capt Clara Leprince (Sara Mortensen from Astrid et Raphaëlle), who is called in from Caen to handle the case, but she has her own problems: seven months pregnant, estranged from her sister Mathilde (Camille Claris), and Bayeux is her hometown. She left Bayeux ten years before after the apparent suicide of her mother who, like Mathilde is now, was connected to the town's tapestry-based economy. Partnered with Lt Vincent Clerc (Idir Chender), who happens to be Mathilde's fiancee, Clara finds the Dewish case has troubling connections to her mother's death.