The Bonfire of Destiny

Stumbled upon this series by accident whilst choosing something to watch on Netflix. Kept my attention throughout! Good performances, good storyline. Binged watch all 8 episodes in one day. I recommend it.

Camille lou (someone who I had never heard of before) absolutely captivates your attention through out this intensely dramatic, tightly woven tale of four women and their families set in period France. The French mansions and scenery are gorgeous, beautiful cinematography, and a villain you really hate and keeps you on edge. class warfare, love, politics, revenge and revolution .. thoroughly binge worthy

The first episode had such an effect on me. Once the fire starts I couldn't look away. It's terrifying and you can sense their fear. The fact that this really happened is so sad. Some scenes are extremely hard to watch, but it's well done. The men are infuriating, especially those at the charity bizarre!

A very entertaining series with three women leading the way, with, of course, the usual men-and occasional woman- getting in the way. Do not confuse the story with the real fire of history, or any of the characters with real people. The plot devices are soapy but most of them work due to the great acting, script and cinematography.

The one plot line that just doesn't work because it's so transparently bad is the one with the woman whose face is partially burned but hardly enough to disfigure her or disguise her. Her use of a thin see through veil is a joke, and she should have been given a mask, but I'm guessing that the actress and the Director didn't want her hidden from us. So we're to believe "they" can't recognize her while we can. Voila!

As an intermediate French student, it's really difficult to find interesting content that is easy enough to understand: This series is perfect. Watch it in the original French with French subtitles turned on (happily an option with Netflix). The speech is fairly clear, not too fast and not heavily accented.

The beautiful costumes, set design and cinematography in this historical drama make up for the fairly predictable plot and uninspired acting. Compared to the mindless dialogues contained in most French language courses, this is a truly entertaining step up.