From
Lupine
to
HPI
via
In therapy
, the French series were a hit in 2020-2021.
"The last decade has seen the evolution of the 'new French wave' on television," said the BBC.
20 Minutes looks
back every day of the week on the great French successes that marked the year 2020-2021.
Seventeen years after the launch of
Plus belle la vie
on France 3, the appetite of the French for daily soap operas continues.
Such a great sun is a
hit in prime time on France 2, while
Tomorrow belongs to us
reigns over access prime time on TF1, with its spin-off,
Here everything begins
, launched in 2020. Ingrid Chauvin and Alexandre Brasseur, the stars of the TF1 soap opera, which
20 Minutes
met at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, review this phenomenal success for 20 Minutes.
When you started “Tomorrow belongs to us”, did you have the feeling that it would be such a huge success?
Ingrid Chauvin.
No, that was the chef's surprise.
Afterwards, from the moment we invest in a project, we have only one desire, and that is for it to work and for it to become a success.
For once, the surprise was that we had to stay!
With hindsight, how do you analyze the success of this daily soap opera?
IC
It's always tricky because if we all had this famous recipe, everyone would apply it.
Tomorrow belongs to us, a
family and multigenerational series, raises subjects that allow us to untie languages at dinner in the evening, with the family and often certain parents tell us: "Thank you for bringing up such and such a subject, because it allows us to start this discussion with our children ”.
It's quite interesting, I think.
Alexandre Brasseur.
A series like
Tomorrow belongs to us
is reassuring. It is a distorting mirror of French society. Suddenly, you can easily project yourself in a series like ours, you can find yourself there whoever you are, whatever your age, your social origins. You easily find a part of you, your parents, your children, your friends. It's reassuring. So obviously, with us, it is accentuated, we tell stories. We are there for entertainment. Obviously, everything is stronger. It's also a little moment of happiness, a little escape too. But at the same time, we have our benchmarks, you know what I mean?
With the reactions to the stopping of filming of “Tomorrow belongs to us” and the other soap operas during confinement, we really felt the public's attachment…
AB
To be completely honest during the first lockdown, I felt deeply useless. I had time, I had energy to spare and I couldn't do anything and I was mainly thinking of the medical world which was in trouble. Not being a doctor myself, there was nothing I could do. I also made calls with my foot to social organizations in the city but no one had anything, we were afraid of everything. At the time, we didn't have a mask, no vaccine, so we couldn't do anything. He didn't want help from anyone when everyone offered it, and there was nothing that could be done. So, I felt like never before. I was especially focused on the distress that the country was going through. I had the chance to join a collective to finance hospitals in Paris, with a song we made.It wasn't much, but hey, we did what we could. Very quickly, we were lucky to have returned to work since we started working again at the end of May. We are still present to sell with a lot of humility, a little dreaming to people. But that's not much compared to the fight against the pandemic.
Viewers have yet testified to this on social networks ...
AB
Oh yes?
At that time, we were all panicked about the pandemic.
The soap opera allows you to hang on to a daily meeting.
It is a landmark in the midst of chaos.
Tomorrow belongs to us
is a reassuring series, all of this is linked.
It's part of the meeting when all of a sudden the days are no longer rhythmic.
We all made small dates.
We had an important meeting at 8 p.m. to applaud our caregivers.
But it's true that we lacked all these little appointments of the day to give a little rhythm to a life that had become white.
My life was punctuated by the applause at 8 p.m., the newspaper, and, it should not be said too much, but the aperitif at 6 p.m.!
IC
Yes, at a specific time in the day, we invite each other, we have a drink at the viewers, we just spend a moment with them, but every day, for half an hour. I even see it in my family, with my grandparents, at the time of the soap opera, the phone can ring, no one will answer! And I, who don't see them all the time because we are far away, I know that this moment is ours. I find it good to convey this, we do not save lives, but we lighten people's daily lives a little. We bring them pretty things. I find that wonderful! In this difficult period, we are a kind of aeration bubble. We must not deprive ourselves of it! I would like to say that we should even focus more on light things like comedy or romance to put a little balm in people's hearts.
"Tomorrow belongs to us" has also revolutionized the way of filming series in France with several simultaneous shootings ...
IC
There are indeed several trays. We are on a daily, we must store almost 26 minutes per day in total chronological order obviously. There are therefore 3 sets, 3 teams, 3 directors. We can sometimes shoot two scenes the same day with 30 episodes apart. It is up to us, thanks to the help of coaches, to get back on track each time by saying to ourselves: “There, we have already experienced this. Now we are living that ”.
Tomorrow belongs to us
, it's a whole incredible organization. There are more than 200 people working on site on a daily basis. It's a kind of big anthill where everyone knows exactly what to do. It's very well orchestrated! But every time I have the feeling that it is a miracle to make it work!
AB
But AB productions did this thirty years ago.
With
Tomorrow belongs to us
, we haven't invented anything.
What has “Tomorrow Belongs to Us” changed in your life?
IC
What has changed above all is having to live in the South.
And that's only positive.
Working daily is also a difference.
When you're an actor, you're used to going on a project, being in a bubble of intense work, but you know there is an end.
There is none.
We must have a fairly irreproachable hygiene of life to be able to hold on the length.
And then there is this loyalty of the public which is only getting stronger.
Today, we have little bits of cabbage, even 5 years old, who call us by our first names in the street.
And that's cute!
This year was marked by big successes in terms of French series, is there a French series that particularly marked you?
IC
As I often say, I am a very bad student, I absolutely do not watch television.
When I come home at night, I don't have time because I want to be with my son.
But I saw
HPI
, and I was blown away by Audrey Fleurot's performance and the concept.
It was innovative, I liked following this series, I really found it good.
How do you see the current boom in French series?
AB
I think the watchword is the fact that they dare. There you have it, they dare to tell strong stories and are a little less afraid of the consequences. They dare to film in a different way in form but also in substance. They dare less light technically, they dare shadow areas, more turbid and brighter characters too. Heroes and heroines, above all, are less of the norm and that feels good because they're just more human, because the flawless human doesn't exist and he's so boring.
And we are capable of the best.
The Bureau of Legends
is among the 10 most highly rated series in the world by The
New York Times
.
I think we can be proud of all of this.
Look at all the successes TF1 has made in recent times.
French quality fiction is extremely innovative.
I take my hat off to them!
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