INTERVIEW
An epidemic in Marseille, anticipated by the writers of the successful series Plus belle la vie . The soap of France 3 will broadcast from next March 12 a new intrigue where the characters in the series will be confined to a hospital because of a mysterious virus. An echo of the current coronavirus epidemic which is pure coincidence. The idea emerged from a working group in spring 2019, before being approved by the chain in June of the same year.
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"It's very disturbing"
"We had a five-six page synopsis on the subject, then asked the question of programming", says on Europe 1 Pierre Monjanel, collection director of Plus belle la vie , responsible for orchestrating the writing of the scenarios . "As it was a strong story that was going to condition a camera with a lot of characters and that it was a device that looked a bit like what we did at the September bonus, I decided to put six months 'gap between the two broadcast. And that falls in March 2020. "
In the plot, several characters find themselves in quarantine in a hospital in Marseille. The zero patient is identified as returning from a trip to Asia, and among the symptoms: fever. "It's very disturbing, we wrote this at least in November," says the collection director. "And during filming, we saw the event happen in reality, which looked like the series."
A coincidence
If the series has always wanted to deal with all the themes of society, including police violence, drugs or marriage for all, the resemblance to the current epidemic of coronavirus is pure coincidence. "We try to be in the era of time, to give a modernity, a reality, but we were not at all trying to resonate with the news."
To be more realistic, the writers were helped by a specialist. The intrigue begins on March 12 and should last ten days.