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. She accepted but only if Hazan found what happened to Romain, the father of her daughter missing for 15 years. 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), Cédric Chevalme (Ludovic Mullier) and Rufus as Henri.
Vincent Jamain (Balthazar, Profilage) helmed the first four episodes, filmed from November 2019 to the end of January 2020 (2). 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. This second half feels like an advanced season 2, visually and thanks to a few tweaks. It starts brilliantly with Tel maître, tel chien, written by Julien Anscutter, Charlène Galan and Alice Chegaray-Breugnot (with Stéphane Carrié).
A man is found in a park garage, suffocated with a plastic bag. When his heart starts again, he's rushed to the hospital. The victim of this attempted murder had an improbable dog and an estranged daughter. Morgane visits the hairdresser, calls the paramedics and detects magnetic fields. The resolution of what looked like the story arc of the season so soon is a bit surprising. Audrey Fleurot and Mehdi Nebbou are at their best and an ingenious plot is punctuated with fast-paced comedy and emotion. Bruno Sanches is more present.
With Juliette Navis (Dr. Isabelle Meyer), Léa Zerbib (Alexia Kerr), Julien Bravo (Clément Saada), Jeanne Guittet (Chloé Guyot), Emmanuel Plovier (Emilien Kerr), Éric Beauchamp (Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie) as Paramedic 1, Audrey Chapon (Concierge), Marie-Josée Billet (Nurse Martine) and Michel Wiame (Hairdresser). HPI has another winner with Hep et soja, written by Alexandra Julhiet, Laurent Vignon, Julien Anscutter and Alice Chegaray-Breugnot (with Stéphane Carrié) and set in the world of football supporters.
The team's latest investigation is disturbed by a recent bizarre dream of Karadec and Morgane's daughter Théa, who's doing an internship at the commissariat. Gilles, Daphné and Morgane eat a cake. The red tornado meets the Red Dogs and ends up in a garbage container. Michèle Moretti plays Agnès Alvaro. With Omar Mebrouk as Adam's brother Sofiane Karadec, Alexandre Picot (Fred Van Heart), Jules Houplain (Police de caractères) as Hugo Viniali, Frédéric Épaud (Cyril Prigent), Pauline Clément of the Comédie française (Myriam Forestier), Gilles Creton (Alex Viniali), Michel Masiero (Supporter 1) and Ludovic Berthillot (Jean-Marc).
Christopher Bayemi (Dr. Bonnemain) is also the French Luther in TF1's adaptation of the BBC series. 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 Nicolas Pechitch. 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. In week 2, the series confirmed its status of ratings juggernaut, beating historic records (3). The 8 episodes are available on Salto, the French streaming service.
(1) Based on an idea from Nicolas Jean. Djibril Glissant and Franck Martins contributed to the series.
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