This British series featured an intoxicating duo, two opposing individuals yet with a certain equality who fascinated for 3 seasons of beautiful intensity: we called “The Fall”, the sinister, the disturbing, the magnetic.
In the north of Ireland, the police are unable to solve a series of murders. Stella Gibson, detective and police commissioner, is then sent to Belfast to supervise the case. At the same time, Paul Spector is a handsome and methodical, impeccable family man… well almost. Guilty, he nevertheless operates under the noses of the police with formidable expertise.
It is then a game of cat and mouse that begins between two passionate hunters. On the one hand, the genius serial killer who will know how to frighten you and on the other, the cold and determined investigator who will strive, tirelessly, to stop him. If law and morality separate them, they are not so different: both of highly placed intelligence, they have found their equal.
How to catch a killer hiding before your eyes? This is the question posed by The Fall (2013-2016), a noir series, as captivating as it is disturbing, which features a duel at the top between two charismatic and fascinating characters: a most powerful duo played by Gillian Anderson, ( X-Files, Sex Education) breathtaking and always in search of the truth – which is not elsewhere this time but very close by –, and a Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) equally charming and chilling, leaving us seduced and horrified, downright. For his disconcerting performance as this “gifted” serial killer – who is also part of the list of series characters it is better not to meet… –, he will be nominated for the BAFTA TV Awards in 2014, the year in which the series itself is named for its ingenuity.
BBC Northern Ireland
Photography, soundtrack and screenplay, all equally remarkable, combine with these widely praised acting performances to make The Fall a deep and dense psychological thriller, complex and tense. The show goes so far as to reflect on ethics, morality and philosophy by offering a rare insight into what goes on in the mind of a sociopath, without ever being complacent. We could almost study it from the psychology and profiling side – it’s just an idea…
From its success will be born… a French remake! Insoupçonnable by TF1 takes up the idea with Emmanuelle Seigner and Melvil Poupaud in the main roles from now on. Find out if the series comes close to the one from which it was inspired: what is the French adaptation worth? The answer here.
BBC Northern Ireland
Of The Fall A cold scent finally emerges, both melancholic and terrifying, something certainly disturbing. You will not come out unscathed: you have been warned, The Fall is simply a slap in the face.
The Fallcreated by Allan Cubitt with Gillian Anderson, Karen Hassan, Jamie Dornan…
3 seasons to watch on Netflix.
