Follow (2023) Ep 5 and 6

Follow Episode 5, runtime 37:40
Subtitles download link

Léna is on the run after putting herself back in the frame. The killer gets all of Parisian cyberspace involved by releasing a video threat read by an AI Léna, and now Real Léna has to hide from vigilantes as well as the police. Samir hopes to find her before she gets publicly lynched, and not metaphorically.

Marie Colomb, with Vincent Heneine as Samir

NOTES

Educated guesses about things starting with pist: Ludo says Léna was était pistonné/pistonner, literally ‘well connected’ (8’05”), which could mean a lot of things but does include ‘had contacts/could pull strings’— and it was established she was hired as a favor to someone. But it can also mean ‘phoning it in,’ which also seemed to be true at first.
      Then it sounds like Médard says Léna was était pistolet, ‘was a pistol’ (8’10”), which is an English expression too though probably antiquated. I guess it fits the context, but… Maybe it’s a joke that Médard is old and thought Ludo meant pistol.

The chatroom threat (17’27”) reads:

She was right under your nose from the start and you did nothing, as usual!
We'll have to take care of her…
If we find her, we'll smoke her!

AI Léna’s line, ‘I'm going to do something to help you understand,’ which we just saw at 16’22”, is missing when the manifesto is replayed as an interstitial (20’30”).

Follow (2023) Ep 3 and 4

Follow Episode 3, runtime 41:30
Subtitles download link

The killer tries to be helpful to Léna by taking care of her Bastien problem. She comes clean, eventually, and Samir is sure she’s the killer. But her time in the frame is thankfully short: Agathe points out that Léna’s on CCTV in the Metro at the time Bastien died, so maybe Samir should stop fixating and ask her for help. The clues lead to an influencer from, as Léna calls it, ‘the beginning of social media,’ who tried to visit the surviving victim in the hospital. He could have a grudge against the victims.

Marilyne Canto as Agathe Ruffin

NOTES

RATP (4’08”) is the government-owned transit company.

20’42”: Navigo is a refillable transit pass. If you used your Navigo pass you a bipé, ‘beeped’ it.

Léna and Agathe are discussing the history of a past influencer, and Agathe asks La fou, Léna?, ‘the crazy, Léna?’ (23’38”). The official subs say the line is L’info? The context calls for this going one of two ways: either she’s asking, in effect: ‘what happened that it all fell apart?’ or ‘Get on with it!’

I absolutely love it that Samir rhymes amies, ‘friends,’ with ennemies (23’49”).

C'est pas pour demain, 'It's not for tomorrow' (30’55”), means ‘Ain’t gonna happen’ or ‘Don’t hold your breath.’

Follow Episode 4, runtime 38:55
Subtitles download link

Paris is going nuts from the panic over the killings amid a countdown to the first curfew since COVID, so the government is putting pressure on the Prefect and Agathe. So, she’s having Samir pressure Marc Durant for a confession ASAP. Léna is positive they’re on the wrong track– and the killer agrees, threatening Léna’s latest dating app match. She hatches a dangerous plan to steer the squad in a different direction.


NOTES

Taking trois plombes, ‘three forevers’ (8’02”), means it took ages.

In earlier questioning Marc Durant never called Julie intime (11’58”). He said Julie rapprochait (moved closer to) and touchait (touched).

Même à fond (26’47”) means ‘at full speed.’ I think ‘at full steam,’ or even ‘had a full head of steam,’ is better in this context.

Follow (2023) Ep 1 and 2

Follow is a mystery/thriller set in Paris and its social networks. I started watching it when it was on France.tv in 2024, but stopped because of the myriad smartphone popups. Now that I have a little time before the start of HPI Season 5-B, I’m going to subtitle these popups. I have machine-translated subtitles for everything else, I’m going to just clean those up instead of doing a full translation from scratch.

Marie Colomb

Follow Episode 1, runtime 41:05
Subtitles download link

Léna Martinet (Marie Colomb, OVNI(s) / UFOs) is a social media intern at the Police Prefecture in Paris– we see her beginning her day checking her dating app matches, shopping at an online vintage store, looking at Life (this reality’s version of Facebook), and fending off Bastien her stalker ex. At the office, her persnickety coworkers seem more interested in lunch than work.

Over in the Judicial Police section of the building, somber Cmsr Agathe Ruffin’s group has a hot potato of a case: a pair of murders with the same MO which threatens to turn serial. In researching the victims, detective Samir (Vincent Heneine) discovers the killer has his victims’ phones, and is re-upping old photos on their Life accounts.

De Sang et d’Encre (2008)

De Sang et d’Encre (Of Blood and Ink), runtime 1:28:05
Subtitles download link


I forget how/where I got this 2008 policier, I think maybe from a YouTube foreign TV playlist. It’s on Amazon Prime in France– but no subtitles! It stars Florence Pernel (the Crime à… series, Meurtres à Granville, many many more) as book publisher Julie Martial, and Stephane Freiss (Meurtres à Collioure) as Capt Marc Simon.

Florence Pernel

Julie Martial runs her family's Paris publishing house. She receives anonymous letters describing crimes that match the MO in a pair of recent murders: a number is stamped on victims’ foreheads. Detective Marc Simon is unimpressed after interviewing Julie, but he changes his mind when she receives a third letter followed by a third killing.

Despite the numerals, profiler Alex (ex-vibes with Marc) says the MO doesn’t match the classic serial killer profile– this killer is carrying out a plan. Meanwhile, Julie comes to believe the killer is watching her, and begins to suspect all the men in her life. But a mysterious phone call warns her about a secret in her family’s past.

Candice Renoir: “Ailleurs l’herbe est plus verte”

Candice Renoir: “Ailleurs l’herbe est plus verte” (The Grass is Always Greener), runtime 1:35:44
Subtitles download link

Candice Renoir is back for its third special following the end of its 10-season series run. For those unfamiliar, Candice (Cecile Bois) is Commander Renoir of the Police Nationale, who has a love for fashion (especially the color pink) and fast cars, and is possessed of a disarming and deceptive beauty queen-like persona.

Bois (L), with Baillot

Once a star of the Paris Crime Squad, Candice was on an extended ten-year leave as she followed her businessman husband to different parts of the world. About to be divorced, she returned to France with her four children and accepted assignment to the Riviera port city Sète, becoming head of a local station’s detective squad. Things were rough at first, Candice’s colleagues seeing only a flighty dilettante who must be behind the times policing wise– until her brilliance won them over.

Over the next ten seasons squad members came and went, and sometimes returned, but the constant was Antoine, in whom Candice discovered a rival, critic, a source of irritation, confidant, fan, and– because it’s France– romantic partner.

Raphaël Lenglet as Antoine

When we last saw Candice she had decided to leave the police and set herself up as a private investigator. As “Ailleurs l’herbe est plus verte” opens, she’s working on a B story divorce case, featuring none other than the hilarious Quentin Baillot (Alexandra Ehle). Business hasn’t been going well, we learn Candice has moved out of the office Antoine helped her rent and into a small office above a nail salon. She’s selling clothes online for extra money. But then a client appears: a veterinarian reporting an attempt on her life. She’s helping a rich lady create an animal sanctuary, and suspects the woman’s jealous daughter. But Candice discovers it’s more complicated than a daughter protecting her inheritance.

(L-R) Olivier Cabassut as Marquez, Marie Vincent
as Nathalie, Christophe Ntakabanyura as Ismael,
Yeelem Jappain as Val

Based on the cookbook (or, Mangeurs On A Train)

Le goût du crime (A Taste for Crime), runtime 1:28:39
Subtitles download link


Laure Grenadier (Cecile Bois, Candice Renoir) is a Lyon-based food vlogger and chef– who no longer cooks. We’re supposed to guess that Something Happened to take her out of the kitchen, but a priori she seems fine: hanging with her best friend Olivier the coroner, living with her militant vegan daughter Amandine, and building a successful influencer brand with a quarter-million followers.

Cecile Bois, with Charlie Dupont as ‘Nicolas’

And then tragedy strikes: her beloved uncle Jérôme, a star chef, is killed in his kitchen. Complicating matters is that Laure’s ex Nicolas– Commander Garnier– is leading the investigation. Nicolas has been saddled with new team member Baptiste, who arrives with golden retriever energy. But just when Laure decides to let Nicolas get on with it, she discovers another body– another star chef, killed exactly the same way.

And then they’re off, into the cutthroat world of Lyon cuisine– Laure, tagging along with a reluctant Nicolas and fanboy Baptiste.

Based on the first in a series of books, it’s a little film that holds your attention. And it’s always nice to see Bois, especially her sunny laugh and ‘you’re SO underestimating me’ smile. So hopefully this isn’t the last we’ll see of Grenadier & Co.


MISC

I picked this one because, other than Cherif, I know nothing about Lyon,

Uncle Jérôme is played by Bernard Le Coq, a big-time César-winning movie and TV star.

Vive la France!

Le crime de la tour Eiffel, (Crime at the Eiffel Tower), runtime 1:31:46
Subtitles download link

I selected this Meurtres a...-style TV film because I thought the setting and the Tower's history would be a good match for Bastille Day. And it so happens the opening scene does take place on the night of July 14.

The murder of a young YouTube influencer brings out Capt Laura Giordano (Flore Bonaventura from Magellan , others too numerous to list) to investigate. The case will be complicated and fraught with pressure because the crime scene is the Eiffel Tower. Laura's recovering from the emotional scars of an incident which will be revealed in due course, working this case is her boss Eric throwing her back in the pool.

Benoit Michel (L) and Flore Bonaventura

One of Eric's conditions is that Laura work with The New Guy In Town, Capt Mathieu Béllanger, fresh from solving a big case in Beaumont. Together they explore behind the scenes at the Tower, investigate a killer desperate to protect a secret, reunite a family seeking to recover a valuable heirloom, and discover links to a pivotal moment in French history.


MISC

It’s been a while since I’ve included DHH subs, so reminder: I subtitle (in red) non-spoken sounds which are significant to the story. Red ellipses mean "previous sound repeats."

Words which appear on screen (eg signs, texts, episode titles and locators) I subtitle in green.

I identify significant characters the first time they say something. If a lot of characters are introduced quickly at the beginning, I identify them in green.

When an entire dialogue side is said from offscreen, I either a) identify the speaker, or b) put the subtitle toward the speaker's side of the screen.

I don't know why the Opensubtitles link didn't work the first time. 


NOTES

The Champs-de-Mars (00'11”) is the park at the base of the Tower. Identifying it now means a later footnote isn't needed.

Mademoiselle Holmes S02E06

Mademoiselle Holmes S02E06, “Jour J” (Big Day), runtime 51:57
Subtitles download link

The second season concludes. A visit to husband-and-wife wedding planners for Florence’s pending nuptials is interrupted by discovery of the husband’s (stabbed) body. Evidence leads the brigade to a cowboy, a hidden past, a cold case, and an unexpected culprit. Meanwhile, Charlie and April continue to meet on the sly.  Charlie moons over Chris. Samy makes a career decision. Florence and Vince tie the knot. Chris returns Charlie’s feelings, but they get a discomfiting surprise.

Dewaere with Roxane Mesquida as April

MISC

I keep having to remind myself that Mademoiselle Holmes is not a reboot/reimagining of Sherlock Holmes, but a ‘next generation,’ there’s no Charlie & Samy canon.

Talk about unexplored B stories: Florence and Vince’s romance is given zero development.


NOTES

(The Honourable) Ronald Adair (6’19”) was the victim in Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of The Empty House.”

Tu l'as bien mouchée, ‘You blew his nose well’ (7’40”), means ‘well, you showed him.’

It's not a gang, it's a club

Mademoiselle Holmes S02E05, “Toxique” (Toxic), runtime 53:07
Subtitles download link

Nothing happened between Charlie and Chris, thank god. Yet?

The brigade is called to the Nantes University medical school, where student Damien and Dr Brassier, a professor’s wife, have been found dead in a dorm room, a Killer Bong close at hand. Was the doctor as faithful as her husband maintains? Or was she the collateral victim of squirrely dealer Amaury? Samy's alumni status, as well as being a legend of the med school's secret society chapter, gives him and Charlie access to the victims’ friends, rivals, and secrets.

NOTES

1’46”: The Universite de Nantes medical school (Faculte de Medecine) is not really named after Marie Curie, despite the sign the show put at what is supposed to be the campus entrance (2’17”). The real school is not in such a park-like setting.

The Sherlock link mangles elements of the Doyle short story “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” (4’24”). In that Holmes case Mortimer Tregennis murders his sister and drives his brothers mad using poison vapors from burning a toxic root in a lamp; he was then killed with the same MO by his cousin Dr Sterndale.

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S05E04

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S05E04, “L'homme au soda à moitié plein” (The Man With the Half-Filled Soda), runtime 55:10
Subtitles download link

Serge finally brings the Alvaro clan together for a day at the beach, only it's so Morgane can scatter his ashes on the English Channel. But on the train to the seaside, Morgane notices when a passenger goes missing. Stuck on the train, she sets out to manage the investigation by remote control.

Celine is trying to put out a fire regarding Morgane’s contract. Théa is wondering why Serge has left his lucky poker chip to her dad. A talkative student unwittingly provides clues to a 2023 homicide. Eliott is repulsed by the train restroom. Karadec realizes he's busted. Morgane has a brush with April Moriarty- I mean a mysterious passenger.


NOTES

Agnes refers to her cabas (00’39”), which usually means ‘tote’ or ‘tote bag.’ But in this case it’s one of those wire baskets on wheels, which is a ‘trolley.’

The funeral home employee (1’03”) is a role with no name. She's played by Domitie de Lamberterie.