Released Wednesday June 5 on Netflix, “Sous la Seine” by Xavier Gens unleashes passions. Subscribers are on edge with the shark film.
It has been announced for weeks and was eagerly awaited. Just his pitch created a following. Sous la Seine, Xavier Gens’ first film for Netflix, features Bérénice Béjo and Nassim Lyes in a race against time to prevent a mako shark – which has decided to take up residence in the Seine in Paris – from making a carnage a few days before the triathlon world championships which are supposed to be held in the capital.
On AlloCiné, Sous la Seine received lightning from subscribers and received an average rating of 1.7 out of 5 from spectators. While the Anglo-Saxon press is rather lenient with the Netflix film, the French press is absolutely scathing.
The French press has teeth
According to Release : “Not yet another Sharknado but a delirious disaster film, which serves as an exorcism for the average Parisian, pressured for years by these Olympics which are promised to be extraordinary.“
According to Telerama : “There was this July 12 when France became world football champion, and this June 5 when it had its crush on the sharks.“
According to The Parisian : “But what did Bérénice Bejo come to do in this mess? The Caesar-winning actress from “The Artist” seems lost in this nonsense. His character, like the others, is full of clichés. The young environmental activist, obviously a lesbian, and her comrades wear piercings, dyed blue hair and Peruvian hats. Necessarily.“
According to The echoes : “Beyond its non-existent scenario and its grotesque special effects which provide a meager demonstration of the usefulness of a budget of 20 million euros, “Sous la Seine” must be watched until the end, if only for his ambition to laugh so openly at Paris less than a month before the opening of the Olympic Games.“
According to First : “The young green activists are described as abominably candy-breaking Greta Thunbergs (and largely responsible for the massacre caused by the sharks, of course), who are opposed by the sympathetic police forces, admirable guardians of the peace distributing snacks for peaceful, cultured homeless people.“
According to The world : “Alas, at City Hall, the mayor’s chair is occupied by a narcissistic jug (Anne Marivin) who refuses to face the facts. Stronger than Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, she prefers, rather than canceling the triathlon, to order the police chief to erase from social networks any reference to the death of a dozen shark defenders.“
According to Point : “Under the Seine, unlike the victims of Lilith – her giant shark –, there is a brain death that is as limp as it is painful. What should only be yet another B series with no added value, which we watch while cooking, nevertheless prides itself on ambitions unfairly supported by a generous budget (almost 20 million euros all the same).“
According to Widescreen: “The hypothesis of a shark in the Seine is always less fanciful than the scene where the mayor of Paris is acclaimed by the Parisians.”
If you haven’t seen it yet, all you have to do is form your own opinion. Under the Seine is currently available on Netflix.
