TV SERIES – When Don Diego de la Vega (unintentionally) meets Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. The Paramount+ platform is putting its new eight-episode French series online this Friday, September 6. Zorro revisits the myth of the masked Californian vigilante. Under Don Diego’s sombrero, we find Jean Dujardin. The actor of the saga OSS 117 and does what he does best: humor.
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At the beginning of the 19th century, Los Angeles is a small town in California (Mexico) that appears prosperous. But when Don Diego de la Vega becomes mayor, succeeding his father, he understands that the latter has in fact seriously indebted the city, particularly to the ruthless Don Emmanuel. A complex situation to manage for the fifty-year-old who must also face marital problems. To protect the population that the sergeant has abandoned, Don Diego is somewhat forced to take his Zorro costume out of the attic, which is inevitably a little tight. Fortunately, Bernardo is there to support him.
So far, nothing revolutionary, you might say, for those who have seen (and re-seen, and re-seen) the various adaptations of Zorro.
The series created by Noé Debré and Benjamin Charbit, however, adopts a significantly different tone. Whether in the cult series of the 60s, or the films with Antonio Banderas, the character of Zorro has never lacked repartee. His interactions with Sergeant Garcia or the bandits have always amused. But the Zorro Paramount+ version goes even further.
Many scenes veer into the ridiculousness of the situation and the theatricality of the comedia dell’arte style, even the absurd. The scenario does not hesitate to play with the comedy of repetition, relying on very first degree humor. If you are totally insensitive to this type of humor ” OSS style “, you might not get carried away. And Jean Dujardin, who plays this returning vigilante, has a lot to do with it.
Zorro comical in spite of himself
« The lazy will say that it is masked OSS “, laments Jean Dujardin during the press conference presenting the series at which Le HuffPost attended on September 3. However, it is difficult to dissociate the actor from his cult character of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, and even less so when many of Zorro’s lines of dialogue could have been spoken by the latter.
The main person concerned, however, rejects this comparison outright, which seems to annoy him. It’s my head, it’s my nose, it’s me, I can’t help it. But I never thought about OSS while playing because it wasn’t written like that. There was another score to find and play. “, says Jean Dujardin. At least, that’s said.
Dujardin’s Don Diego de la Vega does not have the epic panache of Guy Williams, the iconic actor in the 1957 series, nor the impertinent seduction of Antonio Banderas. He is, by the will of screenwriter Benjamin Charbit, ” not at all a hero in the first degree “. This Zorro is clumsy, naive, but often funny in spite of himself. And we must admit, endearing. But we sometimes forget that he is a Los Angeles mayor by day and a masked vigilante by night… and not a French secret agent. No offense to the actor, marked in spite of himself by his role in the films of Michel Hazanavicius and Nicolas Bedos.
The series can, however, also rely on some tasty “secondary” roles. Éric Elmosnino is impeccable as the antagonist, embodying a venal and deliciously detestable Don Emmanuel, ” a great bastard role ” for the actor. Audrey Dana, aka Gabriella de la Vega, also benefits from some frankly nice scenes and dialogues. Finally, we must admit a crush (or a sword) on Sergeant Cristobal in this new version of Zorroto whom Grégory Gadebois lends his inimitable good nature and voice, and to his perfectly silly soldiers.
Zorro is online on the Paramount+ platform from September 6 (8 episodes of 40 minutes spread over three weeks, the first three on September 6, three more on the 13th and the last two as well as a making-of episode on the 20th). It will then be broadcast on France Télévisions. Without being picky, Zorro is a series that is easy to consume. But which unfortunately leaves a slight feeling of length and a small taste of unfinished business. The humor, certainly inherent to the character, eclipses the romantic adventure that should transport us before the daring rescues of Don Diego de la Vega. The masked vigilante was by his own admission rusty, and unfortunately missed his sword stroke a little. Damn!
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