The Returned (Les Revenants)
Haut et Court TV, Canal +, Jimmy, Cine +, Backup Films
The Returned is exquisitely photographed and sensitively acted drama, but what really makes this French miniseries so indelible is that its creators take a supernatural premise and explore it with keen, objective intelligence and in meticulous detail. What would; happen if one day the casualties of a horrible bus accident began to reappear, un-aged, to the families and friends who are still mourning them, still arguing over how to memorialize them? What would it be like to be one of the resurrected, discovering that your girlfriend has moved on or your younger sibling is now older than you are? Why is this happening? How? The result of this painstaking act of imagination is a subtly spooky psychological thriller that ponders loss, grief, memory and guilt, to say nothing of our notions of the afterlife. The idyllic setting, a picturesque mountain town, only accentuates the eeriness. For its intricate storytelling, its visual elegance and its rumination on life, death and what might lie between, The Returned receives a Peabody Award.
PRIMARY PRODUCTION CREDITS
Producers: Caroline Benjo, Jimmy Desmarais, Barbara Letellier. Associate Producers: Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal. Directors: Fabrice Gobert, Frédéric Mermoud. Writers: Fabrice Gobert, Emmanuel Carrère, Fabien Adda, Camille Fontaine , Nathalie Saugeon. Talent: Anne Cosigny, Frédéric Pierrot, Clotilde Hesme, Céline Sallette, Samir Guesmi, Grégory Gadebois, Guillaume Gouix, Pierre Perrier, Jean Francois Sivadier, Alix Poisson, Yara Pilzartz, Jenna Thiam, Swann Nambotin, Ana Girardot. Cinematographer: Patrick Blossier. Editors: Peggy Koretzky, Bertrand Nail, Mike Fromentin, Laurence Bawedin.