I see the NYT weekly seems to recommend series on streaming services. I don't remember if I heard of this one through something they wrote or I just stumbled on it by browsing, but it's a French police/judicial procedural that follows a squad of Judicial Paris police through a multitude of major cases. Usually several cases per season, of which there are six available for free through Amazon Prime. There is a Season 7 and 8, but they don't seem to be available yet.
There are a generous 12 episodes per season, so bingeing is almost required if you're just starting out. The squad is headed by a woman, about 35 years old, no kids, no ex's, just a pure cop, without the wiseguy, hard edge of what's portrayed in the States.
Caroline Proust is Cap-e-tan Laure Berthaud, an attractive thing if you can see under the mess she usually looks like, who is an unmade bed like the guys, but obviously without facial growth. She has a bit of a reputation for liking to sleep around, always ignoring her menstrual cycles, which of course after a few seasons catches up with her and gives her a you-know-what, and of course more plot lines.
The series in in French, with unobtrusive English subtitles. Being in French is actually a good thing, since you hear the characters as the French have hearing them since 2006, in this wildly popular series. Even if you're more than half-a-century removed from taking French in school, many words will sound familiar, and the subtitles confirm that maybe you didn't forget everything.
The Judicial police seems to be their version of the FBI, although the police/cops hardly look buttoned down. They pretty much look like unmade beds with no razors in sight. I don't know how they get the male actors to always appear with the same about of stubble from scene to scene, day to day. They obviously can't do all this filming in one day, so how do these guys just partially shave?
Judicial policing differs greatly from ours. There is an investigative judge who is assigned the case and who works with a rotation of the squads. There are squads all over the country, but Spiral seems contained in Paris and the suburbs, and it's not always the tourist part of Paris that is shown.
In fact, it is rarely the touristy part. The outskirts are full of Council housing, housing refugees from the former French colonies, thus a good number of Senegalese, Congolese. and Muslims from Algeria. It's a wild grab bag of cultures.
There are weapons, but nowhere anywhere near the number seen in American police procedurals. The plainclothes police almost quaintly approach trouble by popping orange armbands on their arms that say POLICE. There are bulletproof vests, but no vinyl windbreakers with yellow block lettering.
What confuses me a bit is that the armbands and police building are identified by the word POLICE. I guess that branch of the police might really have an English spelling. I was expecting to see something that said " endarmarie." Certainly the street scenes, cars and everything about the series is French through and through.
The investigative judge listens to the squad leader explain the case. The judge will issue warrants if they decide to do so. The judge they most deal with in 'Spiral' is François Roban, an Ichabod Crane-older looking man who is topped by a Mont Blanc head of unruly hair: The French version of a Boris Johnson hairstyle.
The judge's office a spare looking room located in the judicial ministry building, reached through a warren of staircases and narrow hallways. The place looks as old as it is, with some French provincial touches. There is a single clerk in the office accompanying the judge, monsieur jooge, "your honour in French."
The clerk is like a court reporter, taking down the conversations held between the judge and the lawyers, defendants, and whoever comes seated in front of the judge. Prisoners are interviewed, without handcuffs, while court officers stand against the wall.
It would seem the French system doesn't use a Grand Jury, but rather relies on the investigative judge to close, or refer the case to the prosecutor for trial. The judge may accompany the police during their work; they may reconstruct the narrative of the crime using life-size dummies. It is a very different pursuit of justice than ours.
One of the assistant prosecutors is Pierre Clément, played by Grégory Fitoussi, certainly a French heartthrob who has the good looks and bearing of Gregory Peck in 'To Kill A Mocking Bird.' He's a charmer.
The prosecutors and defense attorneys appear in court robed and wearing a while silk scarf draped over their front, like a very wide tie. There are no wigs like in the British courts, but the judges are also draped in robes, and there may be more than one judge sitting in on the bench.
One of the defense attorneys is Joséphine Karlsson, a knockout, flaming red redhead played by Audrey Fleurot, who I suspect is also quite popular in French acting circles. She's a pit bull, the French version of any famous defense attorney who takes lost causes and argues successfully. And she is not above skating toward ethical lines.
Cap-e-tan Laure's lieutenants are Gilou, played by Thierry Godard, another French actor that you'll see in other productions. Both he and Audrey Fleurot are in the miniseries 'A French Village,' another streamed offering.
Gilou is never seen clean shaven, and with the French filming technique of taking lots of closeups, has an annoying mole just the the left of his mouth. New Wave or not, the series is shot with lots of handheld camera work, and lots and lots of closeups.
Gilou has an expressive, large face that's as big as an Easter ham. He is always in trouble with drugs and women, and at one point stealing evidence, but Laure always seems to back him. The core squad is rounded out by Tintin, played by Fred Bianconi, another stubble-faced, jean-wearing cop who seems to at least have a stable home life. He's got kids and a wife. At least in the beginning. He and Gilou don't always get along. They fight a bit like brothers in the bedroom.
These cops wear their guns outside their pants for all the honest world to see. But when back in the office, they all make a point of emptying the chamber and storing the weapon in an unlocked desk drawer. Laure fails to do so once, and it has consequences.
There are six season available on Amazon Prime, and there are two more seasons that have been released in France, but not here. Thus, when you complete Season 6, you can peek at the summary on the Internet for Season 7. You should watch the season in order.
Maybe the series will last as 'Law and Order' here and be a French franchise. I'm sure the actors like the work.
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