Elsa Marpeau, novelist, screenwriter and creator of successful series -

Francesca Mantovani / Gallimard

  • France 3 broadcasts a new episode of

    Alexandra Ehle

    this Tuesday

    .

  • Behind the features of this colorful character hides Elsa Marpeau, also creator of 

    Capitaine Marleau

    .

  • “Men are often shown in their positions without having to justify whether they are bad fathers.

    Women have to juggle.

    I took the option of not having to justify it, ”she explains to 

    20 Minutes

    .

If we played the game of seven similarities between

Captain Marleau

and

Alexandra Ehle

, we could easily say that these are two series broadcast on France 3 and that they are two characters with a little libertarian side.

And if we searched more, we would quickly realize that behind the feather that created them hides the same woman.

Elsa Marpeau, novelist and screenwriter, is the one who gave life to these two forces of character, carrying excellent audiences with each broadcast on the public service.

At the origin of these two characters is the desire not to define women in detective series by the comings and goings between their careers and their family life.

“They are not defined by their relationship with a man, nor with children because they do not have either one nor the other, relates Elsa Marpeau to

20 Minutes

.

Men are often shown in their positions without having to justify whether they are bad fathers.

Women have to juggle.

I took the option of not having to justify it.

"

Individual and collective work at the same time

When she creates her characters, Elsa Marpeau works alone.

Throughout the stages, she surrounds herself with those who will gradually take over her world, such as producers or directors.

“We completely lose our solitary work when we give the script to the director.

He does something else with it, he transforms it, that's part of the work in the audiovisual industry, ”she confides.

Entrusting her baby to someone else for transposition to the screen is not necessarily a fear for the novelist, but rather something exciting.

It is an opportunity for her to see her characters come to life and even to adapt them according to their interpreter.

If the choices of Corinne Masiero for

Capitaine Marleau

 and Julie Depardieu for

Alexandra Ehle

 were both obvious to her, Elsa Marpeau modified the spirit and the attitude of the forensic pathologist to harmonize with the character of her interpreter.

“At the start, the character was very cold and lacked empathy, it no longer suited Julie Depardieu.

I wrote a character who, on the contrary, became completely empathetic, ”notes the designer.

Two ways of writing, the same universe

Whether in her novels or on television, Elsa Marpeau is illustrated in the thriller and thriller, a genre that leaves her a great freedom of tone and allows her to keep the public in suspense.

“It's something that allows us to explore a lot more universes, questions, we can tackle real problems,” she says.

The proof with

Alexandra Ehle

, whose episode aired this Tuesday deals with the plague, and the next one with faith and miracles.

“This is an episode that I could not have written in comedy or drama,” she argues.

Thanks to literature, Elsa Marpeau allows herself a deeper exploration of perversion with a more transgressive side since the novel allows us to enter more into the psychology of the characters “who have a much darker and more harsh side than in the scenarios.

"The script draws its effectiveness" from a fairly technical writing with financial constraints, whereas in the novel, it's totally endless. "

What the screenwriter appreciates above all in her work for the small screen is rediscovery.

“When it is played, we can have surprises, good or bad.

There is a Kinder surprise side, ”she jokes.

Even today, Elsa Marpeau continues to work on her books and her fictions in parallel.

An adaptation of

The Island of Thirty Cercueils

by Maurice Leblanc will soon be shot and a new novel will be released in bookstores next September.

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  • Novel

  • Series

  • Television

  • Corinne Masiero

  • France 3

  • Captain Marleau