Marianne Season One
The Witch Is Back
UK/US Netflix, streaming now Showrunner Samuel Bodin Cast Victoire Du Bois, Alban Lenoir, Tiphaine Daviot, Lucie Boujenah
This eight-part series is a stylish, if flawed, slice of Gallic horror.
Emma Larsimon (Victoire Du Bois) is a bestselling author who made her fortune with the saga of evil witch Marianne. Keen to move on to genres new, Emma shocks her fans by abruptly ending the series. Marianne, however, has other ideas... When a friend dies in tragic circumstances, Emma is forced back to the town where she grew up, and a confrontation with past tragedies and the very real entity that has haunted her since childhood.
The second half of the series is a taut, effectively scary supernatural thriller with more than a little Stephen King in its DNA, as Emma and her friends band together against the evil that stalked their childhoods. It’s clichéd stuff, but effectively done. It also looks fantastic, with sharp direction and some beautiful location work when the action moves to the coastal town of Elden.
Before that, however, you have to deal with episodes that veer into goofy comedy; a less-thanbrilliant dub and wildly divergent subtitle track; and the fact that Emma is so unlikeable. That’s the point – this is the story of a troubled antihero grasping for redemption – but you have to be onboard with spending several hours in her company before she comes across as anything other than an entitled asshole.
All that said, when it works, it really works. Episode five is a particular standout. Taking place mostly in flashback, it details the events that set Emma on her path of self-destruction. Sad and surprising, it goes a long way towards making her a more sympathetic hero. And in the last few episodes, as the gang hole up in a lighthouse to try and take down the witch once and for all, Marianne conjures authentic shivers. Will Salmon
Conjures authentic shivers
Creator Samuel Bodin was inspired by a recurring dream he had for 18 months, in which a witch would run after him.