L'absente

This French series starts off with a sequence of apparently unconnected and disconnected scenes from which viewers are intended to make sense. There are the usual long periods of actors staring through windows, at one another and various objects . Nothing makes sense, including a scene where the mother slaps some guy in a hospital room. Little in the way of context is provided to provide background. The scenes are dark and dreary, and there is the usual histrionic behavior with a lot of shouting that passes for acting in French cinema! Walter Presents is the usual platform for failed European series. This series is no exception to that rule!

A very well crafted mystery that takes it's time to tell it's story. For a change the main character is not a detective, and the one here has little impact on the story, and doesn't solve any mysteries. The main characters are a father who has lost his daughter and a young woman who might just have returned 11 years later.

It's fun to try and guess how and why the story develops in it's way, and be wrong at times and right at times.

The acting is superb, and the plot is complicated, and what some call slow is, for me, depth.

The end is contrived so that justice is served, and I would have preferred it to have ended in a more unsettling way, but "C'est La Filme."

Within 15 minutes of the first episode of L'absente ( A Familiar Stranger) I was completed hooked. The story is of a young woman who appears with amnesia and is believed to be a child called Marina, who had gone missing 11 years before.

This series is addictive and I binged it all in one day without a moment of reprieve. There are twists and turns, and the story is so intense and haunting that you feel like you are there taking part, and wanting answers.

The cast is stellar. Salomé Dewaels as Marina/Alex is hauntingly beautiful in her role. Thibault de Montalembert as Laurent, the father of Marina is perfect in this role of a tortured father, longing for answers and seeking revenge.

I could not fault one single cast member. The all did their parts to a believable and brilliant degree.

Even the twists were done so well, there was no plot holes or cracks showing, which happens often in series that play on twists.

It is so well executed, you can not help but be engrossed from beginning to end.

I would highly recommend this series to anyone.

This was certainly a dark drama. Was there a powercut in France when this was filmed, as much of it is hard to see with so little light? It starts interestingly enough when a young girl missing for eleven years turns up, to the delight of her parents. Unfortnately she has amnesia so can't remember anything that has happened. How convenient. That's a plot line that has never been done before. But there is a suspicion, not least from the father, that she is not who she says she is. The investigation is led by a detective known as 'the shark', maybe whale would be more suitable as she is in the last stages of pregnancy and should certainly be on maternity leave. I found the first couple of episodes OK but then it becomes confusing and dreary, not helped by the poor lighting.

I didn't know how to rate this. There were a few really silly things in this show that annoyed me or were plot holes...but I watched the whole thing within 3 days and was a blubbering mess at the end. So I must have enjoyed it!

I found some parts of this show to be extra slow, but mostly it was quite gripping and always had me wondering where it would lead.

The acting was quite good, I can't really fault anyone.

The storyline had a twist in every episode which is good, and most of the twists were surprising which is hard to do.

None of the characters are very likeable, but some are relatable.

Recommend it you're looking for a dark, gripping crime drama.