From Global Screen:
Based on the successful detective novels by Alexandra von Grothe. Mourning his wife’s death, Inspector Maurice LaBréa leaves Marseilles for Paris with his daughter Jenny. But Paris is no respite, for a ghastly copycat killer is imitating a killing spree around the Bastille that went on ten years ago.
From MHz Choice you can stream 3 episodes of this German language detective series set in Paris with English subtitles. Each episode lasts about an hour and a half.
All the crimes are ugly and brutal. Mutilated bodies are par for the course.
However, the central theme running through all the episodes is LaBrea’s loving concern for his daughter Jenny who encourages him to romance his beautiful painter neighbor who often takes care of Jenny when duty so often calls.
- Episode 1: The Beast of the Bastille.
- Episode 2: Murder in the Rue St. Lazare
- Episode 3: Deadly Dreams in Montparnasse.
Somewhat old fashioned, nothing special, but plots consist of a nice contrast between the grim crimes and LaBrea’s personal life.
From Netflix:
Reading her ex-husband’s violent novel manuscript destabilizes gallery owner Susan’s life, upending her present while digging up their past.
From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 56 minute complete film.
WARNING: Almost certainly you will find this extremely violent film upsetting. In addition the opening videos of an especially obese naked woman are quite revolting.
However, as usual, Jake Gyllenhaal delivers his usual impassioned performance. Just don’t try and sleep afterwards.
Basically the entire film is a downer:
- Amy Adams as Susan Morrow has reached the pinnacle of an unhappy life. Her failing faux-modern art gallery features worthless but expensive junk. She rejected the real love of her life, Tony Hastings. Her second marriage to Hutton Marrow is a lonely empty shell.
- Armie Hammer as Hutton Morrow is the handsome, suave, and habitually unfaithful second husband.
- Laura Linney as Susan’s mother Anne Sutton plays the completely materialistic, domineering Texan society matron.
- Michael Shannon is the tough, chain-smoking lawman who is dying of metastasized cancer.
- Jake Gyllenhaal is Susan’s first husband, a writer whom Susan loved but discarded as impractical.
- Robert Aramayo as Turk. His portrayal of a violent, psychopathic alpha thug is pitch perfect.
What!!! You still want to see this movie?
From IMDB:
The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
REVISED REVIEW 2020:
From Netflix you can now stream 3 seasons of this British crime series. Each season consists of 8 episodes where each episode lasts about 45 minutes.
Yet another wonderfully constructed British detective procedural set in Dorset, England. Details may be found in Wikipedia. As the summary above explains, the major emphasis in the Season One 8-episode story is the conflict between families due to the murder. It takes 8 more episodes in Season Two to close the Sandbrook murder case.
Season 3 consists of two plot threads:
- Mark Latimer (played by Andrew Buchan) has never gotten over the murder of his son. His obsessional desire for revenge is hurting his marriage to Beth Latimer (played by Jodie Whittaker).
- Broadchurch is now threatened by a serial rapist. Trish Winterman is the first rape victim we meet. She is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh who also played Jill Weadon in the British TV series The Trouble with Maggie Cole. Her physical appearance in Broadchurch is so different from her physical appearance in The Trouble with Maggie Cole that it took me a while to even recognize her.
David Tenant as Inspector Alec Hardy and Olivia Colman as Detective Ellie Miller carry the story. Secondary themes are their personal problems.
In the entertainment area of British detective TV shows, this series is a DO NOT MISS!
Films Tony is comfortable recommending.
