The fabulous Audrey Fleurot (Spiral, A French Village) continues to shine in HPI, a fun and well-crafted 8 x 52-minute French comedy/crime drama created by Alice Chegaray-Breugnot and Nicolas Jean — two of the creators of La Mante — with Stéphane Carrié (1) for private channel TF1.
Audrey Fleurot plays Morgane Alvaro, 38, a single mother of three (from two different fathers) with a disdain for authority and a 160 I.Q. that makes her HPI (Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, hence the title). Morgane was a cleaning lady at the commissariat de Lille until Commissaire Céline Hazan noticed her abilities and offered her a consultant job. The no-nonsense Commandant Adam Karadec is less than pleased to work with this uncontrollable civilian who hates cops!
The actors alongside Audrey Fleurot are excellent: Mehdi Nebbou, who worked for Steven Spielberg or Ridley Scott and appeared on German TV in Tatort and GSG 9 – Ihr Einsatz ist ihr Leben or in the U.S. drama Homeland, plays Karadec. Céline Hazan is played by Marie Denarnaud (La malédiction du volcan). The other regulars are Bruno Sanches (Gilles Vandraud), Bérangère McNeese (Daphné Forestier), Cypriane Gardin (Théa), Noé Vandevoorde (Eliott) and Cédric Chevalme (Ludovic Mullier) (2).
Vincent Jamain (Balthazar, Profilage) helmed the first four episodes, filmed from November 2019 to the end of January 2020 (3). All filmings (movies + series) were interrupted in France between March and May 2020 because of COVID-19. Laurent Tuel directed the remaining episodes
between August and October 2020. The brilliant second half of HPI feels like an
advanced season 2, visually and thanks to a few tweaks (notably Morgane's "HPIsm").
In Cocktail molotov, Ludo takes the kids on holiday and Morgane Alvaro goes to the beach... for a new case: a kitesurfing instructor has been murdered. A witness quickly becomes the chief suspect. Morgane is convinced of his innocence and Karadec has the intuition that she's right. The duo continues their investigation against the advice of Commissaire Hazan. They dress for the occasion and put themselves in jeopardy with some consequences.
This fireworks was penned by Soiliho Bodin and Nicolas Clément (who both worked on Balthazar and Chérif) with Alice Chegaray-Breugnot and Stéphane Carrié. Guest starring Akache Busiah (Ranir), Delphine Braillon (Sabine Muller), Cédric Weber (Chef Dewulf), Anne-Sophie Wilkin (Hélène Dewulf), Lucas Phiv (Jonathan Gourvil), Tess Boutmann (Lucie Vandorme), Céline Romanowski (Beach instructor), Gwenaël Clause (Tony) and Guillaume Matton (Apprentice).
Christopher Bayemi, who plays Dr. Bonnemain, is also the French Luther in TF1's adaptation of the BBC series. Season 1 of HPI comes to an end perfectly with Homme de peu de foi, written by Stéphane Carrié and Alice Chegaray-Breugnot. An ice skater is found dead, hit by her own car and the only person who witnessed the scene is a blind young woman. Céline is angry with Adam while both Karadec's collaboration with Morgane and his career are at the crossroads.
With Christopher Bayemi (Dr. Bonnemain), Omar Mebrouk as Adam's brother Sofiane Karadec, Romane Portail (Sense8) as Émilie, Héloïse Wagner (Iris Beauchamp), Quitterie Picamoles (Rebecca Weil), Jack Claudany (Tardieu), Céline Vitcoq (Laurine), Claudine Vigreux (Eliott's teacher), Melissandre Fortumeau (Pauline Garcia), Julien Tortora (Bruno), Husky Kihal (Filipe Garcia), Denis Duval (Priest) and Justine Guerville (Skater).
Produced by Septembre Productions and Itinéraire Productions with TF1, Be-Films, RTBF (Télévision belge) and Pictanovo. Filmed with the support of Région Hauts-de-France. Made in association with Umedia and the support of the Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique. Jean Nainchrik, Anthony Lancret and Pierre Laugier are the line producers. Patrice Onfray exec produces. Produced by Anthony Lancret, Pierre Laugier and Bérengère Legrand.
Music by Yannis Dumoutiers. Cinematography by Laurent Machuel. Editing by Stéphanie Pelissier (Episode 7) and Nicolas Pechitch (Episode 8). Main title design by Brett & Cie (Crimes parfaits). Visual effects by Super 35 Productions. High Intellectual Potential (the international title of HPI) is distributed by Newen Connect. The series has established itself as a ratings juggernaut in France and Belgium (where it aired ahead of TF1), beating historic records (4) and ranking amongst the most watched dramas in Europe.
HPI could have been a hit on just the name of the versatile Audrey Fleurot — Le Bazar de la Charité drew almost 8m viewers. Of course, the actress is amazing right from the start of the first episode and that's enough to forget a concept which sounds like a parody. Her chemistry with Mehdi Nebbou is fantastic and they make their characters irresistible, a prowess for an umpteenth ill-assorted detective duo. Their talents are aptly served by the quality of the production and the writing.
The 8 episodes are available on Salto, the French streaming service. Unsurprisingly, HPI has been renewed for a second season.
(1) Based on an idea from Nicolas Jean. Djibril Glissant and Franck Martins contributed to the series.
(2) The great French actor Rufus appears in 4 episodes as Henri, the neighbour of Morgane Alvaro. Michèle Moretti plays Agnès Alvaro, Morgane's mother, in 3 episodes.
Previous reviews of HPI:
See also:
https://www.salto.fr/ 
