“Erica”, a police mini-series with Julie de Bona filmed in the Landes

Lhe new TF1 detective series “Erica” arrives this Monday, January 6. It stars Julie de Bona, Grégory Fitoussi, Théo Fernandez and Antoine Duléry. It is an adaptation of three novels by the Swedish Camilla Läckberg, with 30 million copies sold worldwide. The heroine Erica evolves here far from the small coastal town of Fjällbacka in Sweden, as in the original book. The plot takes place in France, in “Port-Clément”, a fictional commune, which is none other than Hossegor in the Landes, where the mini-series was filmed.

Erica Faure (Julie de Bona) is a renowned author who hasn't written anything in two years. In order to settle the estate of her deceased parents, she returns to her hometown. Barely arrived, she discovers Alex, her childhood friend, dead in her bathtub. This event, in addition to raising doubts about a possible suicide, restarts his inspiration. The police officer in charge of the investigation, Captain Alex Saab (Grégory Fitoussi), is not going to support Erica infiltrating the investigations.

The actress Julie de Bona talks about her character as a little sour candy, who goes to investigate the murder of her friend without anyone asking her anything. Erica is rock, whimsical and refined. The actress compares her duo with Grégory Fitoussi to a duality between different but complementary people. The faults of one awaken those of the other.

Sous le regard de Camilla Läckberg

This is not a first for Julie de Bona to film under the gaze of the writer who created her character. In April 2018, the actress was in Andernos in Gironde for the filming of “A Mother Under the Influence”, a film adapted from the novel by one of the queens of American crime fiction, Patricia McDonald. She told us: “I put pressure on myself knowing that she was coming on set but she was magnificently kind to me. There was sparkle in her eyes to see the characters she imagined come to life. »

This time it is the turn of the Swedish novelist Camilla Läckberg to come and see how the on-screen production of her book “The Ice Princess” is taking place: “This is my first international adaptation, outside of Sweden, and France is the second largest sales territory for my novels,” she told “Sud Ouest” last May. “Even if it's not quite the same, there are, like in my novels, very dark crimes, mixed with the atmosphere of a small, calm seaside town. The writers worked a lot on family relationships which are very present in the book and there is also humor, lighter aspects. I saw the first two episodes and I laughed, I cried. They really captured the essence of the heroes, with a little French touch. »

Despite some implausibilities and occasional blandness, the freshness and playfulness of Erica's character make this mini-series sparkle.