Ad Vitam

After the sea of atrocious rubbish that passes as sci fi lately, from the demise of Dr Who, not to mention dismal attempts to remake The War of the Worlds, its refreshing to see a series "this good".

Ad Vitam blends a quality crime thriller with a sci fi that has elements reminiscent of films such as Blade Runner, but still manages to have its own unique personality.

This is a deep series, that delves into human emotion and the things that define us as human. Just as importantly, it looks at what we can become when those things are taken from us.

Top notch acting rounds out this marvellous French series I had to watch in one sitting. Something of a rarity for me these days.

10/10 from me.

Disclaimer: I watched the German dubbed version, so some things might have gotten lost in translation.

1. Brief summary: Mankind has invented a device that rejuvenates you to the age of about 30-40. There are some people who are genetically not able to undergo the procedure and there are some who don't want to do it, the others can theoretically live forever. A group of minors (now everyone under the age of 30 is a minor) commits suicide. A police officer tries to get the help of the only survivor of a previous mass suicide to find out why they did it and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

2. The setting. This series is set several decades in the future, but the technology is the same as 2018, except that cars now have an extra headlight on the hood and, of course, the devices that rejuvenate. That's not logical, but perhaps neccessary to concentrate on the changes to society that were brought by that one invention. The series raises several interesting questions, like how long would you stay in the same job or in the same relationship, should birth control be mandatory to prevent overpopulation or how would you react if the good looking brunette you chatted up in the disco turns out to be over 90 years old. This is the best part of the series, it makes you think how longevity will affect society.

3. The plot. It starts as a detective story, it has some unexpected twists that keep it interesting, but eventually things get confusing and I was asking myself why people were doing what they were doing.

4. Summary. The acting was solid, the plot was not. I would recommend this series to those who like 'what ifs' like 'what if I was forever young?' and who like to think and who like to philosophize. Get some friends or family to watch it as well so you can talk about it. If you are looking for simple entertainment, this series is not for you.

Thanks to 'regeneration' people no longer need to grow old; the oldest person in the world has just turned 169 and still looks and feels like a thirty something. There is a price of course; as nobody dies of old age or illness death is rare leading to overpopulation. Having children is discouraged and those under thirty don't feel valued. This has led to some committing suicide. When seven bodies are washed up on a beach police officer Darius Asram is called into investigate. He soon finds an apparent link to a mass suicide that took place ten years previously. Wanting to find more about that incident and to discover if the people behind it were involved in the recent case he enlists the help of twenty four year old Christa. She survived that event and has been incarcerated in a secure hospital ever since. Together they will uncover the truth.

I enjoyed this six part series. It provided a good mystery as well as some interesting ideas. The world depicted isn't overly futuristic; apart from the regeneration it could almost be set now. In many ways this can world can be seen as the opposite of that shown in the '70s classic 'Logan's Run'; instead of people being killed at thirty they aren't really valued till they reach that age. We don't get bogged down in pseudo-science; it is just stated that the regeneration is somehow linked to jellyfish, a recurring motif throughout the series. Yvan Attal impresses as Darius and Garance Marillier, best known from the film 'Raw' is solid as Christa. There isn't too much violence but there is a sense of threat. I suspect the only reason this has an '18' rating is because of the importance of suicide to the plot. Overall I found this to be intelligent sci-fi and would certainly recommend it.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.

Exactly what you want from a sci-fi series, cool concept, excellent execution, good acting and several red herrings taking you off into not such a distant future where eternal youth is just beginning, and the young are treated as kids until they are over 30 years old.

It's too easy to press the next episode in this series as the investigation progresses with the characters and plot building into the last episode. There are some shocking scenes that are quite graphic, although not violent. A must watch for those who don't want 'Wham, Bam, smash and grab' kiddies sci-fi.

This is an interesting and fairly different Sci-Fi series. I was happy to discover that it is excellently dubbed in English though subtitles in English are also available. The acting is good, ( Garance Marillieras is really good in her role ), as are the directing, plot and production values. I applaud the fact that the production company didn't add a lot of subplots to lengthen the series past six episodes. I really enjoyed this series.