The bet was ambitious but it succeeded. Ericataken from the cycle featuring novelist Erika Falck and detective Patrik Hedström by Camilla Läckberg, arrives this Monday at 9:10 p.m. on TF1. Published in more than 60 countries, the Queen of Swedish crime books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, including 5 million copies of Erika Falck’s investigations in France alone, the second largest market. most important for his detective novels. Will regular readers of the Scandinavian author’s investigations be seduced by the TF1 version?
“It is impossible to put the amount of detail of a romantic story into its series adaptation,” warns Camilla Läckberg in the columns of Ouest France. There are choices to make and assume. They were well done. And the important thing is that the essence of the books remains.”
A heroine author of thrillers lacking inspiration
In this miniseries, Julie de Bona takes on the role of Erica Faure, author of successful thrillers lacking inspiration, who returns to her hometown in order to settle her parents’ estate with her sister Anna (Maud Baecker from Tomorrow belongs to us). “She is sunny, but she is also full of wounds, of neurosis, of things that she has not resolved. It’s a little tart candy with flaws and an immense need for love,” summarizes Julie de Bona interviewed by TF1. Barely arrived, the novelist discovers the corpse of her childhood friend, Alexandra, her veins cut in her bathtub. Suicide or murder? This is enough to awaken your inspiration!
One crime solved per evening
The TF1 miniseries is faithful to the archiclassical structure of whodunits books published in France by Actes Sud. The six 52-minute episodes feature the plots developed in The Ice Princess, The Preacher et The Stonecutter. “Each evening, made up of two episodes, follows a crime,” summarizes Julie de Bona interviewed by TF1.
A series filmed in the Landes
While the novels interweave family secrets and chilling murders in the murky waters of the small Swedish fishing port of Fjällbacka, it is under the sun of the Atlantic coast that the dark world of Camilla Läckberg comes to life on the screen. The miniseries takes place in the fictional town of Port-Clément, which is none other than Hossegor in the Landes where the TF1 fiction was filmed.
Convinced that her best friend did not commit suicide, Erica Faure will play the role of home investigator in Desperate Housewives mode, to the great dismay of police captain Patrick Saab, played by Grégory Fitoussi, in charge of the investigation with his colleague Martin (Théo Fernandez, seen in Stalk).
A fast-paced romantic comedy
Together, they will delve into the secrets of Alexandra’s family and discover the truth about her death. Getting along at the beginning like cats and dogs, the investigative duo will soon start playing cat and mouse… “The screenwriters have worked a lot on the 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,” comments Camilla Läckberg to our colleagues at Southwest.
With the immersive and oppressive atmosphere of the novels, the series directed by Frédéric Berthe based on a screenplay by Julien Magnat, Sylvain Caron and Thomas Boullé, surfs on the romantic comedy side. “During the second evening, we will meet the characters of Erica Faure and Patrick Saab after a leap forward in time. Same for the third evening. We are going to do story ellipses which give a bit of stakes and excitement for the viewer,” explains Julie de Bona to TF1. These time ellipses allow the series to develop the relationship between Erica and Patrick.
The series thus takes some of the ingredients of the recipe for success of the flagship TF1 series, HPIrelying on an endearing heroine (Erica is as fragile as she is bubbly and smart), the twists and turns of the investigations (even if the investigations are much less structured and more expected than in HPI) and a sentimental common thread (but here very lightly). This tandem formed by Grégory Fitoussi and Julie de Bona works wonderfully and gives all its salt to Erica.
