what is this new French series worth?

Their names are Tom, Cédric, Tonio and Jérémie, and they are the heroes of Super malesthe new series made in France from Netflix, available from January 24. With these four friends, it is indeed a journey that Noémie Saglio and Olivier Rosemberg, the creators and directors of the show, and Julien Teisseire and Estelle Koenig, showrunners with Noémie Saglio, invite us. Management: Quadraland. And it’s an understatement to say that, on the planet of forty-year-olds, we are slightly lost…

Slice of life

Tom (Manu Payet), comic book author lacking inspiration, can’t get over having been left by Andréa (Alysson Paradis), with whom he has a son, Milo, 16 years old. Cédric (Guillaume Labbé), creative director in an advertising agency, “alpha male”, sees his world collapse when he is forced to share his position with a woman, which he refuses.

He resigns and his finances plummet. A situation that he hides from Léna (Olga Kurylenko), his partner, a former model converted into an influencer, who loudly asserts her feminist convictions; to Magda, 15 years old, his daughter born from a previous union; and to his friends. Tonio (Vincent Heneine), owner of a restaurant, has a relationship with Delphine (Mélanie Bernier), a lawyer specializing in divorce management.

He is madly in love with her, dreams of marrying her, but cannot stop cheating on her. When the latter, resistant to marriage, offers to be “a free couple” – a way, according to her, of keeping the flame alive, Tonio is destabilized. However, he accepts his pact. As for Jérémie (Antoine Gouy), a police officer, he has been married for 14 years to Cécile (Ariane Mourier), a driving school instructor, with whom he has two young children, Ulysse and Iris.

Overwhelmed by everyday life – their role as parents, work, a move that has not materialized for ten years… – they have completely forgotten themselves. Cécile wants to cause an electric shock and does everything to spice up their relationship. Jérémie spares no effort. But it’s not easy to find passion again when the mental load is present at every moment. Like the thirties, which Noémie Saglio and Julien Teisseire had explored with Chris Lang through their series Heart plan (2018-2022), already a Netflix production, quarantine is therefore not a long, quiet river.

Anglo-Saxon influences claimed

Remake of the Spanish series Alpha malesalso visible on Netflix and whose third season has just been put online, Super malesmade up of six episodes of approximately 30 minutes, fits into a well-identified genre: “the buddy film/series”. On the cinema side, the genre has been fueled by countless feature films like My best friends by Jean-Marie Poiré (1989) or the diptych The little handkerchiefs et We will end up together by Guillaume Canet (2010-2019).

In the series field, the list is also provided, from the American Seinfeld (1989-1998) French style My friends, my loves, my troubles (2009-2015). Noémie Saglio, Julien Teisseire and Estelle Koenig do not claim to revolutionize this genre. They appropriate the codes and mix them with clearly asserted Anglo-Saxon influences, including the Judd Apatow style. In Super malesthe language is crude and we are not afraid of vulgarity.

As we are not afraid of feelings either. If the title suggested that the show would be an exhaustive reflection on the place of man in post-#MeToo society, that is not really the case. The subject is covered, but mainly in the couple formed by Cédric and Léna. The central theme, the one that innervates the episodes, is quarantine.

Besides, Super males could have swapped its title with that of a Judd Apatow film: 40 years, instructions for use (This is 40 in English, 2013). At 40, are we outdated? Can love be as beautiful as it is at 20? Is carelessness still permitted in the face of the weight of responsibilities? Can we call into question certainties that have been frozen for years? These are the questions that are asked, with humor and sensitivity, through the portraits of Tom, Cédric, Tonio and Jérémie.

A tirade that will leave its mark

Some will affirm that the moods of Parisian forty-somethings are seen again and again, even irritating. Maybe. But, here, it works. The ingredients of the recipe? First of all, a controlled scenario, which has digested its references, without being exempt from heaviness (the long sequence of hallucinogenic mushrooms in episode 4 was unnecessary). Added to this is careful staging, tenderness for these lost protagonists and top actors.

Manu Payet delights us as a romantic depressive, just like Guillaume Labbé as a bewildered man who doesn’t understand anything at the time – in episode 3, you have to see his face when, in the company where he is retraining, his advertising project is rejected by an audience of members of Gen Z. Olga Kurylenko is perfect as a neo-Instagrammer and Mélanie Bernier delivers a nuanced performance as Delphine, a lawyer who refuses conventions.

And there are these actors that we didn’t know very well and who enchanted us. Thanks to his interpretation, Vincent Heneine extracts Tonio from the caricature in which such a character could have been trapped. Ariane Mourier and Antoine Gouy make us howl with laughter – the scene, in episode 1, where they encounter difficulties using a sex toy is memorable.

They also touch our hearts. Their exchange of glances says a lot about the love that those they play, Cécile and Jérémie, have for each other, despite the passage of time. And sequences will leave an impression. In episode 2, Cécile launches into a tirade about her daily life as a woman and mother at the end of her rope which should speak to many people. A speech that Ariane Mourier transforms into a piece of bravery. In short, Super males does the job, and, dare we play on words, does it really well. We have a great time and the series unfolds a depth over the episodes that caught our attention. Quickly, a season 2!