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.

South of the Border: HPI S05E08

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, “Supernova,” runtime 1:09:09
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The series concludes.

It’s the big day of Morgane’s oral exam to join the police, and after a shaky start it… doesn’t get better. Until she manages to interest the interview panel in a post-Bruges investigation: the death of physicist Manon Boutière– so into the recent past we go, narrated by Morgane…

Morgane and the brigade follow leads to coworkers at Manon’s science lab, and they flush out an undercover counterintelligence agent, who suspects the lab is a nest of spies— meaning Morgane couldn't be more thrilled to go spyhunting.

Audrey Fleurot takes a bow. With Feodor Atkine (2nd from L), Jean Luc Piraux (R), and Mehdi Aireche (2nd from R). 

This is a special episode, so I’ll end the plot description here. As Morgane would say, ‘hold onto your underwear,’ this episode is 69 minutes long.


MISC

Feodor Atkine (‘Prof Letellier’) has been acting for over 50 years. American audiences might know him best as ‘Major Ducos’ in Sean Bean’s Sharpe TV films.

Jean Luc Piraux (‘Zizou/Montcreuset’) has only a handful of movie credits, but has been a respected stage actor/director/playwright for decades.

NOTES

Scratch (2’38”) is Velcro.
      Diapers ça s'en file, ‘they’re a set,’ doesn’t align with the English meaning, so I’m putting ‘they’re fitted.’

5’25”: A bâton de colle is a glue stick, but I don’t know what a bâton qui colle (sticky stick) is exactly or why she would say it is carré (straight/square). A candy stick sweet at one end and sour at the other is a bâtonnet acidule; the ones I’ve seen are gummy-flexible though.

In Bruges: HPI S05E07

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, “Il faut qu'on parle” (We Need to Talk), runtime: 58:58
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The penultimate episode opens with Morgane much relieved: not only does she get to move on to the oral section of the police exam, Judge Lefolet has closed the Laëtitia investigation. But she’s quietly opened a file on Karadec.

The squad is in the woods, and it’s not a metaphor, responding to a call about a drowning. They don’t want the case because the victim is lying on the border with Belgium, shades of The Bridge. As luck would have it the victim managed a luxury hotel in Bruges, so guess who gets to go ‘investigate’ it.

Morgane brings the hotel staff up to date

The episode ends with Karadec facing the consequences for his well-intentioned but unnecessary and premeditated actions to cover for Morgane. Will the series conclude with roles reversed, Morgane the cop and Karadec on the outside?


MISC

‘Justine’ is the terrific Carole Weyers from Double Je/Alter Ego. Automatic guest villain? Why no….


NOTES

Gilles mentions a family reunion at Phare Aventura, ‘Aventura Lighthouse’ (4’09”), which doesn’t seem to exist. I’m thinking it’s supposed to be Fuerteventura, which is one of the Canary Islands.

Posé un lapin, ‘posed a rabbit’ (6’32”), means to stand somebody up.

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S05E06

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, “Tequila Sunrise,” runtime 60:13
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A body is found in a park, and Celine’s son Matteo happens to be nearby and is arrested. Celine goes rogue to help him, enlisting Morgane. They are led to a possible witness to the crime who has her own skeletons in the closet. Matteo is not the stoner he appears to be and pushes Daphne’s insecurity button. Oddball Judge Lafolet is assigned to investigate what happened to Laëtitia– and her phone’s contents lead straight to Karadec and Morgane. Then Celine has the whole team over to her place to work on Matteo’s case, thinly disguised as a murder mystery party.

Morgane has a noir daydream

The romance everyone has wondered about

but no one asked for is put on the table.

Buckle up, this episode is a full 60 minutes.


NOTES

Morgane says either que/qui son erreur or fait son erreur (1’33”), which means ‘he/who made a mistake?’ or something like ‘how did he go wrong?’

2’28”: It sounds like Morgane says est pour fous foutre, literally ‘is for crazy fuck.’

Juriste en herbe, ‘budding lawyer’ (4’10”), works as a pun in both French and English.

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S05E05

Haut Potentiel Intellectuel S05E05, “Crack, Pshiiit, Haaaa,” runtime 59:52
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The concluding season resumes.

Morgane has gone through with her impulse to live in Serge’s RV. She and Ludo and the kids are set up in a parking lot– shades of The Rockford Files. This week the squad starts out investigating the murder of a semi-pro e-sports player, which becomes the murder and attempted murder of an e-sports team.

The Morgane-Karadec chill eases a notch, in that she's talking to him. Celine tries to sell Morgane on a change in job description. Ludo makes a bid for his freedom. We learn who the Mysterious Woman from episode 4 is and what she wants, and we see her shocking exit.


NOTES

They’ve tapped into a pilon (pylon) to get power (1’10”), which means ‘stick’ but also ‘pole,’ I guess it’s a power pole with a transformer at the top.

Excuse me for a moment while I RANT AT TV SHOWS THAT EXPECT VIEWERS TO READ TEXT THIS SMALL (1’48”)!!!

2’00” c.f.: I’m calling it ‘Sound of’ shouting, barking, and gunshots because SPOILER they’re not real. None of the cops realized there were no actual flying bullets?

5'45":  I've got it— Gilles is Scooby-Doo.

Transmets (8’56”) of course means ‘transmit,’ but also ‘send,’ ‘convey,’ and ‘pass on.’

Follow (2023) Ep 5 and 6

Follow Episode 5, runtime 37:40
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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”).