On the one hand, the first three seasons of this show are possibly among the best programs ever aired. Told with a cold, intelligent eye, without pretense and without judgment, the program examines the life of a town in France when the Nazis take over. No one is all good, no one is all bad, and the dialog, the action, the plot -- everything seems perfect. The show feels like what television at its best was meant to do: entertain, inform, educate, teach, amaze, astound.
Unfortunately, in the fourth season the show loses its steam. The characters start becoming caricatures rather than people, just pawns that move the plot forward rather than seem real; the dialog becomes oddly maudlin and unrealistic; the show falls apart. The next three seasons are something of a slog to get through, and yet it's hard to turn away because those first three years were so excellent.
The other issue is the acting. Most of the actors are superb, above all the ones who play Larcher and Marchetti, the two most interesting characters in the show. There are scores of other excellent performances as well. But the actors who play Suzanne and Antoine aren't nearly as good, particularly Suzanne, who acts as though every line she utters is an emotional breakthrough that can only be understood with more emotion than exists within the entire rest of the program.
One odd note: the producers made an interesting choice re pets. At this time in France most people would have had a dog, or several dogs, as well as cats. Yet nowhere in the show (except one small scene) do we see any domestic animals. Nazis were known to have either simply killed dogs, especially when they were threatening, or left the dogs, and cats, to die. The show's decision must have been that as horrific as some of the scenes are with children, viewers wouldn't have been able to watch pets be killed. So they simply took them out of the story. Says something about our society today.
Still, despite its flaws and its failure to retain its momentum, this is a remarkable show that does more to explain human nature in times of war than any other in a long time.
Unfortunately, in the fourth season the show loses its steam. The characters start becoming caricatures rather than people, just pawns that move the plot forward rather than seem real; the dialog becomes oddly maudlin and unrealistic; the show falls apart. The next three seasons are something of a slog to get through, and yet it's hard to turn away because those first three years were so excellent.
The other issue is the acting. Most of the actors are superb, above all the ones who play Larcher and Marchetti, the two most interesting characters in the show. There are scores of other excellent performances as well. But the actors who play Suzanne and Antoine aren't nearly as good, particularly Suzanne, who acts as though every line she utters is an emotional breakthrough that can only be understood with more emotion than exists within the entire rest of the program.
One odd note: the producers made an interesting choice re pets. At this time in France most people would have had a dog, or several dogs, as well as cats. Yet nowhere in the show (except one small scene) do we see any domestic animals. Nazis were known to have either simply killed dogs, especially when they were threatening, or left the dogs, and cats, to die. The show's decision must have been that as horrific as some of the scenes are with children, viewers wouldn't have been able to watch pets be killed. So they simply took them out of the story. Says something about our society today.
Still, despite its flaws and its failure to retain its momentum, this is a remarkable show that does more to explain human nature in times of war than any other in a long time.