A worried woman discovers that her husband has gone missing, for reasons which seem rooted deep into the past. The disappearance forces her to re-discover and re-examine her own past, including a participation in a harrowing event known as "the tragedy of the Catacombs". Somehow everything seems linked to a well-attended pop concert going wrong in the most disastrous of manners...
"Juste un regard" is a mix of thriller and drama. It has a clever and elaborate plot which, perhaps, is too busy for its own good. The result reminds one of an over-designed dress forcing the viewer to admire a dozen features all at once. Whoo, look, it's got a jewelled collar ! An an asymmetric hem ! And a red-and-white "leopard" print ! And unusual bat sleeves ! And an embroidered belt ! And lace buttons ! And little rows of feathers down the back !
It's a pity because the basic theme is interesting, to wit the way in which a disaster continues the haunt the memories, especially when that disaster was the result of some kind of human negligence or malevolence. In the series, you get scores of once-unremarkable citizens driven to extremes of sorrow and hatred ; you also get scores of once-unremarkable citizens trying to make sense, obsessively, of the various circumstances surrounding the event which killed their beloved relative. You also get a shocked public which tries to comprehend the problem by focusing on a few individuals and assigning them very specific roles : individual X becomes the despicable culprit, individual Y becomes the innocent bystander, individual Z becomes the angelic hero (or heroine). Here the series often achieves a remarkable realism.
The music isn't bad and I quite liked the "Pale Ink" song played during the fateful concert.
I've got to admit that I started watching the series under the mistaken assumption that the "Catacombs" catastrophe had been suggested by a real-life French tragedy. It was only later that I noticed the series was based on a Harlan Coben book, which seems to indicate a different source of inspiration. The tragedy I had been thinking of was the 1970 Club Cinq-Sept fire, in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, Isère, France. The 5/7 case remains sadly notorious, both for its horror and for the seemingly endless list of failures, evasions and shortcuts regarding fire safety uncovered during the enquiry. For instance, people died piled high around "exits" which had been deliberately padlocked and barred, or which had been specifically designed to allow movement in one direction only.
By now half a century has passed and all over the world there still occur disasters in nightclub or concert venues caused by similar factors. The human race does not seem to learn all that quickly...
"Juste un regard" is a mix of thriller and drama. It has a clever and elaborate plot which, perhaps, is too busy for its own good. The result reminds one of an over-designed dress forcing the viewer to admire a dozen features all at once. Whoo, look, it's got a jewelled collar ! An an asymmetric hem ! And a red-and-white "leopard" print ! And unusual bat sleeves ! And an embroidered belt ! And lace buttons ! And little rows of feathers down the back !
It's a pity because the basic theme is interesting, to wit the way in which a disaster continues the haunt the memories, especially when that disaster was the result of some kind of human negligence or malevolence. In the series, you get scores of once-unremarkable citizens driven to extremes of sorrow and hatred ; you also get scores of once-unremarkable citizens trying to make sense, obsessively, of the various circumstances surrounding the event which killed their beloved relative. You also get a shocked public which tries to comprehend the problem by focusing on a few individuals and assigning them very specific roles : individual X becomes the despicable culprit, individual Y becomes the innocent bystander, individual Z becomes the angelic hero (or heroine). Here the series often achieves a remarkable realism.
The music isn't bad and I quite liked the "Pale Ink" song played during the fateful concert.
I've got to admit that I started watching the series under the mistaken assumption that the "Catacombs" catastrophe had been suggested by a real-life French tragedy. It was only later that I noticed the series was based on a Harlan Coben book, which seems to indicate a different source of inspiration. The tragedy I had been thinking of was the 1970 Club Cinq-Sept fire, in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, Isère, France. The 5/7 case remains sadly notorious, both for its horror and for the seemingly endless list of failures, evasions and shortcuts regarding fire safety uncovered during the enquiry. For instance, people died piled high around "exits" which had been deliberately padlocked and barred, or which had been specifically designed to allow movement in one direction only.
By now half a century has passed and all over the world there still occur disasters in nightclub or concert venues caused by similar factors. The human race does not seem to learn all that quickly...