A Very Secret Service

Season One: A Very Secret Service is a sophisticated French satire about the Cold War, colonialism and racism. The series is especially meaningful - and humorous - to those with some understanding of post-War history.

The main character Andre Merlaux struggles to make sense of the bureaucracy surrounding intelligence operations and, whether skillfully or by chance, protects the French Republic from its enemies more than once. Once Merlaux gets the hang of the whole spy thing then the rules change again.

Au Service de la France is a laugh. It pokes holes in the the world, France and the era (yes, everyone did smoke in the 1960s, even on airplanes!). The series also none too subtly delivers a none too positive message on the role of Western powers in establishment of the post War global structure. So, yes, it's kind of a political show!

This Netflix Original production is a send-up of the French secret service, French bureaucracy, French colonialism and numerous other aspects of things stereotyped as French. It is brilliantly written, directed and acted. I find myself frequently laughing out loud.

A show like this could quickly devolve into being played too broadly (think of "Get Smart") but this one doesn't. It maintains its edge by keeping a wry seriousness hand-in-hand with its lunacy. There are times when the show is even somewhat dark but it never loses its comic heart.

There is only one season (2015) playing on Netflix streaming video at this time. I don't know if they made a second season, but I hope so!

In French with English subtitles.

A French agent drama set in the early sixties with a backdrop of actual historical events, in this case the cold war and Algerian liberation war. It is very enjoyable to watch, it is a very French kind of jargon and humour and I would describe it as a mix of Peter Sellers and Jaques Tati. At moments it is absolutely brilliant and hilarious.

The recreation of the 60s atmosphere is great and everything oozes a high class production. Mad Men in a French setting.

It is a funny comedy, no gore or explicit violence, that will keep you smiling and wanting more. Each episode is pretty short circa 25 min so it is perfectly digestible in chunks now and then.

A series that deserves much more attention. A hidden gem.

Very recommended watch if you are looking for an intelligent comedy

It's a shame that this excellent production has no review yet on IMDb, so i decided to go first :-)

"A very secret service" caught me by surprise. The stage are the early 1960s, relatively short after the end of WW2 and in the middle of the cold war. It's a mix of "The Office" and "Dr. Strangelove".

There is plenty of twisted, sarcastic and dark humour (at times very British). They shoot quotable one-liners like machine guns at you. I laughed my *** off many times (hint: the eastern German bathrobe).

With all the silliness they managed to create a coherent story line as well as a bunch of characters you really care about.

They mostly also use very nicely and somewhat easy to understand french, so it's good for those wanting to learn french. I'm Swiss, so i can relate well to what's going on.

Now bring on the second season, or i will get very grumpy!!

I stumbled upon this show by accident, and had never heard of it before. It really caught me by surprise, and my love for it keeps growing with every episode.

This show is whimsical and fast-paced, and you're never bored watching it. There are a lot of fun pokes at French stereotypes, as well as stereotypes surrounding the Cold War and a post-WW2 Europe.

The humor is witty and quick, with a ton of fast one-liners, comical sound effects and visual humor. The darkness of the jokes are wrapped so neatly, each one feels like a little present. It's old-school, but still modern, in its filming and editing.

Each of the characters are such glorious stereotypes, but even though they're made to look like two-dimensional characters, they're all deep and unique, and you love each of them in a special way.