Created in 2005 in Israel, “BetTipul” features a shrink in front of his patients: each episode corresponds to a session and each patient returns every five episodes.
The series has given rise to Argentinian, Brazilian, Japanese, Macedonian, Portuguese, Serbian, Polish… or even American versions (“In Treatment”, with Gabriel Byrne).
Available from this Thursday, January 28 on Arte.tv and broadcast from February 4 on Arte, “En Therapy”, a project led by the duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, directors of “Intouchables” and “Hors Norms”, is the seventeenth adaptation of Israeli fiction.
And it is much more than a simple French transposition: its creators have made it a deep and fascinating series, because it is very anchored in our society.
A pool of directors around Toledano and Nakache
.
At the origin of the project with the producers Yaël Fogiel and Laetitia Gonzalez, the duo of filmmakers participated in the creation and writing of “En Thérapie”.
Of the 35 episodes of this first season, Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache shot three with Mélanie Thierry and four with Reda Kateb.
Director Pierre Salvadori directed the seven episodes with Céleste Brunnquell, Nicolas Pariser the seven with Clémence Poésy and Pio Marmaï, and Mathieu Vadepied all aspects with Carole Bouquet, five with Mélanie Thierry and three with Reda Kateb.
Filming took place for four months last winter, two days per episode.
A series marked by November 13
.
Those who have seen the American version will recognize certain characters: the patient who declares his love for her shrink, the couple in crisis, the intransigent shrink of the shrink (played here by Carole Bouquet).
But the strength of "In Therapy" is to have completely rethought the original scenario by registering it the day after the attacks of November 13th.
The psychiatrist's office is located close to the Bataclan, the first session takes place on November 15, 2015, and the first patient is a surgeon who operated on survivors of the attacks.
The second is even a policeman who intervened in the concert hall during the hostage-taking… Beyond these two characters, “In Therapy” shows how all the patients who parade through the office - and the shrink himself - were affected, sometimes traumatized, by the attacks.
“We have put war everywhere.
All the relations are strained in the company, loose the shrink in one of the last episodes.
Inhabited comedians
.
To embody the therapist, who plays in the 35 sections, Toledano and Nakache had no room for error: they therefore bet on the impeccable Frédéric Pierrot, who played a head of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs in their film “Hors Normes”.
The 60-year-old actor, who has held numerous supporting roles in "Polisse", "War is declared", "Young and pretty" or "Thanks to God", is incredible empathy, listening, nuance.
In front of him, Mélanie Thierry, Reda Kateb, Clémence Poésy, Pio Marmaï and Carole Bouquet all play with remarkable intensity.
But the revelation of the series is the young Céleste Brunnquell, already formidable in “Les Dblouis” in 2019, who shows there a stunning presence.
A deep and intelligent series
.
“In Therapy” is to the universe of the series what psychoanalysis is to medicine: just as the sofa does not heal as quickly as surgery, there is no point in looking for ultra-efficient entertainment here.
Of course, the first episode is intriguing from the outset, and each part is punctuated by the opposition between the shrink and patients who are often resistant to analysis.
But this series in 35 episodes, from 21 to 30 minutes each, is tasted in length and depth.
Each character reveals their secrets little by little.
By resting only on dialogues and by focusing - in essence - on the psychology of the characters, "En Therapy" makes you think.
It also takes place almost entirely in the therapist's office: imagined after November 13, 2015, this “confined” introspection is timely in this winter of 2021.
Newsletter The list of our desires
Our favorites for fun and culture.
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
EDITOR'S RATING: 4/5
“En Therapy”
, French series by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, Pierre Salvadori, Nicolas Pariser, Mathieu Vadepied.
Available on Arte.tv.
Broadcast on Arte from February 4
