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Paris Police 1900 - review


Paris Police 1900 is a French series currently on iPlayer, that somehow only took about 6 months (rather than the usual 2 years) to make it across the channel (who said Brexit made exchanges more difficult?!).

The series is set in... err... Paris, in 1899. On the surface it is a gory police thriller, following the meandering investigation of the murder and dismemberment of a young woman.

So far, so Nordic Noir; were it not for the 'exotic' setting, and the lack a truly central investigative figure. While the handsome Inspecteur Jouin is suitably aloof and monosyllabic, and works as the connecting character in the story, he isn't a dominating presence in the narrative, which includes a number of interrelated subplots with their own leads.

Crucially, as made abundantly clear by the jaw-dropping(!) opening scene, the makers of the show have created an unique, and unprecedented portrait of a not-so-Belle Époque, as, literally, a fin-de-siècle society, decadent, violent, cruel, and bloody.

We are plunged into a bleak and brutal dystopia in which individuals flail to retain some dignity, even as others try to take that away from them. This is something reflected in the storytelling itself, which is unflinching in its unglamorous representation of dead bodies and physical cruelty to humans and animals.

Although there are moments of bitter humour and irony, the show is not for the faint-hearted. This is underscored by a beautifully gloomy cinematography that, incongruously, yet very effectively, references science-fiction films, such as Blade Runner, and the vernacular of slasher movies.

The political background the slow-paced story is set in, also brings a huge amount of depth and interest to the narrative. As it is announced that the convicted Jewish spy Alfred Dreyfus (who never appears in the show) is being sent back from a tropical penal colony to mainland France for a retrial, a number of factions cynically fan the flames of anti-Semitism in pursuit of their own interests. Historical characters and events are predominantly interlaced with the central investigative story to great effect; it was all very instructive.

Paris Police 1900 is a unique and intriguing piece of television, successfully straddling different genres, that, in the end, invites the viewer to reflect on the parallels that can be made with the current rise of right-wing extremism, and its underlying causes.

Although not announced official, a second season is apparently already in the works, set in 1905, presumably to coincide with the next major episode of the Dreyfus saga, when he was reinstated in the army.

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