Published on October 18, 2024 at 6:02 p.m.
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Kenza, Delphine, Loana, Laure and Julie in front of the Loft in 2001 – ©Baril Pascal/ABACA
“Cult” is as fascinating as the story of how “Loft Story” came to be on French television. Available this Friday, October 18, the six-episode series retraces the creation of the show, launched on M6 in 2001, the power and money games that were going on behind the scenes and the excesses caused by such a program.
Also read >>> The swimming pool scene, rigged votes… The true from the false in “Cult”, the series on “Loft Story”
Remember, in 2001, the small up-and-coming channel launched – with great fanfare – its adaptation of the Dutch show “Big Brother”. In France, this is unheard of. While TF1 and M6 had sealed a pact to prevent the advent of reality TV in France, the latter broke it to film 24 hours a day, eleven single lofters in a villa built in a studio. “Loft Story” was born.
A reality TV show that has become… Cult
The show breaks audience records, particularly after the live broadcast of an intimate scene between Loana and Jean-Édouard in a swimming pool. A television moment that has become… cult. Voyeur, trashy, provocative… we can no longer count the adjectives when talking about the “Loft”. The emergence of “tele-trash” has caused a lot of ink to flow, the CSA (audiovisual supervisory board) to grind its teeth and is helping to change the image of the PAF.
This true audiovisual and societal phenomenon gives its creators and screenwriters: Matthieu Rumani and Nicolas Slomka a desire for a series. With Alexia Laroche-Joubert producing (she was the one who launched “Loft Story”), “Cult” is one of the best series of this end of year. In addition to its captivating storyline and its astonishing casting (Marie Colomb in the shoes of Loana, Sami Outalbali in that of Karim and Anaïde Rozam in a biting Isabelle de Rochechouart), the success of “Cult” is largely due to its realism. If fiction is omnipresent, a host of truthful elements have slipped into the image and the aesthetic of the 2000s is the same. The proof in pictures.
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