Thursday 19 November 2020

PERFECT MURDERS (CRIMES PARFAITS) - COMMANDANT CLAIRE MORENO: MASTER DU CRIME/UN COEUR SOMBRE (FRANCE 3)

French pubcaster France 3's detective drama Crimes parfaits is a "semi-anthology" where a murderer known from the start thinks he/she has committed the perfect crime but a detective (different in every couple of episodes) proves him/her wrong. 

It's the concept of the inverted detective story, popularized by Columbo though created in literature many years before the famous lieutenant. Crimes parfaits is now available in the United States as Perfect Murders, thanks to SVOD service MHZ Choice.
 
With five sleuths rotating in 20+ 52-minute episodes since 2017, Crimes parfaits is part of France 3's very popular regional crime drama line-up. Even an erratic scheduling can't hurt the ratings of what is mostly a copycat factory of Capitaine Marleau, the biggest hit of the channel. With two noteworthy exceptions: Commander Renaud Delaunay, played by Antoine Duléry (Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie) and Commissaire divisionnaire Damien Roche (Philippe Caroit). But there's also, err... what's her name again? Ah, yes... Commandant Claire Moreno.

After Étoile filante and Le grand saut in 2019, Isabelle Otero returns as Police commander Moreno in two new episodes from GMT Productions. Between 2003 and 2010, the actress starred in Diane, femme flic (2003-2010), made by GMT for TF1. The same prodco was also behind another crime drama hit of the private channel: Julie Lescaut (1992-2014). In 2002, Isabel Otero took the lead role in the long-running France 2 series La Crim' (1999-2006). Hubert Roulleau (Les chatouilles, Mongeville et Magellan: Un amour de jeunesse) is back as Lieutenant Hubert de Montalembert. Arsène Jiroyan plays Léopold, the pathologist.
 
In Master du crime, criminology professor Lise Lenoir murders one of her students. Lise knows all the secrets of the criminal law and her solid gold alibi is none other than Claire Moreno, her best friend. Hubert calmed down since last year and he drives another vintage car. Claire's son still can't make up his mind about his future. Even Alexandra Vandernoot (Highlander: The series) as Lise Lenoir can't save this tedious catalog of clichés and bad dialogues. With Michel Biel (Mathis Paoli), Fabian Wolfrom (Cédric Marchand), Laura Mathieu (Marie Weber), etc. Written by Isabelle Polin and Frédéric J. Lozet.

The Seaquarium of Le Grau-du-Roi  is the sole interest of Un coeur sombre. The place is superbly highlighted in this episode where it's called "Niceaquarium". Anne Caillon (Demain nous appartient) plays Marie Michalik, a veterinarian who kills one of the cleaning men by hacking his pacemaker. Léopold has done his homeworks and Hubert's father worries about the social life of his son. Marie has an autistic daughter who's good at solving complex equations, which can be useful in case you need to hack something with your tablet. But the sharks look impressive.

Actor and scriptwriter Stéphan Guérin-Tillié, who wrote four episodes of Capitaine Marleau, penned this episode. It's almost a comfort that the female third detective of Crimes parfaits isn't a clone of the exuberant gendarme. Except that Claire Moreno is Marleau's polar opposite because personality is not her forte. Also with Clara Quilichini (Louise), Valéry Schatz (Manager), Yannik Mazzili (Marco Perez), etc. Emmanuel Rigaut (Tandem, Commissaire Magellan) helmed both Master du crime and Un coeur sombre. Produced by GMT Productions and France Télévisions

Co-produced with Be-Films and R.T.B.F. (Télévision belge) and the participation of RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Filmed with the support of Département des Alpes-Maritimes. Frank Lebreton exec produces. Produced by Julien Dewolf and Myriam Gharbi-de Vasselot. Music by Maïdi Roth and Franck Pilant (1). Theme music of Crimes parfaits composed by Jean-Pierre Taïeb. Cinematography by Olivier Guarguir. Editing by Stéphane Gaurier. Main title design by Laurent Brett for Brett & Cie (Cherif, Cassandre, Transporter - The Series). Distributed by France tv distribution.
 
(1) Their theme reminds of the first end title of the British TV series Hustle.
 
 
See also:
 
https://www.seaquarium.fr/?locale=en_EN (The Seaquarium of Le Grau-du-Roi)

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