In eight episodes,
Les Combattantes
promises to be TF1's new event series, driven in particular by Audrey Fleurot, the star of the
HPI
phenomenon .
She finds there Julie de Bona and Camille Lou, her playing partners from the
Bazar de la Charité
, which, with an average of 8 million viewers, was so successful that it confirmed the appetite of French viewers for large frescoes in period costumes.
To discover
TV program: Find tonight's TV program
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heroines in wartime
Les Combattantes
has the same DNA as
Le Bazar de la Charité
: namely the same actresses, the same production and the same director.
The action takes place in 1914. Four women are in search of emancipation: a nun, a nurse, a prostitute and a factory boss.
Like
Bazaar de la Charité
, the series will be offered on the Netflix platform, which co-produced the episodes with Quad Drama.
"
Everyone wins
," explains Anne Viau, director of French fiction at TF1.
We need this money to make very good fiction and the series will shine internationally thanks to Netflix.
It's a mess
was seen around the world and was in Netflix's top 10 for many weeks.
This earned us remakes in Turkey and Italy
!
»
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The Bazaar of Charity
: a breathless and feminist series
TF1 is therefore betting heavily on
Les Combattantes
, the trailer of which was broadcast at the end of July, very early on.
“
We are very proud
, confirms Anne Viau,
we are holding a nugget!
Such a dive into the First World War via a female point of view is rare, even non-existent, at least on the side of French series.
Women are the great forgotten of the Great War
.
They have in fact improvised as workers, tram drivers, nurses, etc.
They played a crucial role for the country deprived of the men gone to fight.
“
Many of them sacrificed themselves for France but they do not appear on any of the 36,000 war memorials in French municipalities
“, details Iris Bucher, producer and CEO of Quad Drama.
A five-star cast
The series follows four female figures with crossed destinies and different social origins.
All the characters, whether main or secondary, are affected by the same tragedy: war.
Marguerite (Audrey Fleurot) is a pugnacious prostitute in search of one of her relatives, gone to the front.
Confronted with the absurdity of the conflict, gentle Mother Superior Agnès (Julie de Bona) questions her faith.
Suzanne (Camille Lou) is a nurse on the run, accused of murder.
She will join a military hospital within the convent of Mother Agnès.
Caroline (Sofia Essaïdi), mother of a bourgeois family, is the wife of a rich industrialist called to the front.
She will find herself, alone, at the head of the management of her husband's failing truck factory.
Julie de Bona and Camille Lou in
Les Combattantes
Credit: CAROLINE DUBOIS / TF1 / QUAD
Audacity and epic breath
Those who liked
Le Bazar de la Charité
, which masterfully dusted off the series in costumes, will certainly be worn by
Les Combattantes
.
Not only because we find the same cast – Audrey Fleurot, Julie de Bona, Camille Lou – reinforced by the arrival of Sofia Essaïdi, but also because the same epic breath and the same audacity animate the series.
Director Alexandre Laurent (
Le Bazar de la Charité
) has become a specialist in moving and tortuous frescoes.
The four heroines are plagued by betrayals and face the horror of war.
"
Les Combattantes is a 'drama', a sort of feminine Indiana Jones
", analyzes Alexandre Laurent.
Because, yes, the series, sometimes raw, is tinged with a certain darkness and could put off the most sensitive souls (more than 100 liters of fake blood were used for the filming).
“We are going a little further with this series but at the same time it is a question of showing the war, and it has been some time that at TF1 we have dared to push the cursors”.
Anne Viau, director of French fiction at TF1
Anne Viau concedes: “
We are going a little further with this series but at the same time it is a question of showing the war, and it has been some time that at TF1 we have dared to push the cursors and we see that the public is there. sensitive because he is very demanding and educated in matters of fiction
.
The series also painfully echoes recent fighting in Ukraine.
“
The theme has unfortunately become very contemporary.
It was unthinkable to anticipate this,
” says producer Iris Bucher.
It's a first in the history of French fiction to find the same trio of actresses starring in two different series.
“
This has never been done in France and it's fun, as an idea
, laughs Iris Bucher.
I like to do new things!
The project was born and was proposed to the actresses while they were in the middle of filming the
Bazar de la Charité
, and therefore even before knowing that the series was going to cause a sensation.
Camille Lou did not hesitate for a second, motivated, she says, by the return of Alexandre Laurent behind the camera.
“He is exceptional, very unifying, with a particular eye.
And then, it was like finding a family.
Audrey Fleurot says:
“
It is rare to commit just on a desire to meet again but the guarantee of quality was strong enough to say yes without having read the texts.
I was very enthusiastic about the idea of recounting this period – finally!
– from a women's point of view.
»
Audrey Fleurot superstar
Audrey Fleurot experienced the enormous success of
HPI
on TF1 during the filming of Les
Combattantes
.
"
Overnight, we saw the difference
," says producer Iris Bucher.
“
When we left the sets, in the street, with Audrey, there was a riot!
Time will tell if
HPI viewers will
watch
Les Combattantes.
Julie de Bona is on her third series with Iris Bucher and Alexandre Laurent because she was the heroine of
Secret d'Élise
on TF1.
It was obvious, she said, to leave once again "
with the family
": "
Well
, she jokes (only half!)
I still haven't had a nice dress, because I play a nun
(laughs)
and on the
Bazaar
I was disfigured, so thank you very much!
»
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:
HPI
is the favorite series of viewers
Newcomer, Sofia Essaïdi arrived on the project when the texts were already written: “
I was delighted because I had really wanted to play a period role for a long time.
I loved my character and his psychological development.
Saying goodbye to him after seven months spent in his company was difficult
” For these four actresses, the story does not end there because Iris Bucher is working on a third series in costumes with them and the whole team.
Audrey Fleurot in
Les Combattantes
on TF1 Credit: CAROLINE DUBOIS / TF1 / QUAD
A dream blockbuster
With a budget of 20 million euros, the series
Les Combattantes
lives up to TF1's ambitions: "
We dreamed of a blockbuster that has nothing to envy to the cinema and the result is there
" rejoices Anne Viau, director of French fiction at TF1.
More than 150 roles were cast and 3,000 extras took part in this great adventure, there were sometimes 200 on the same sequence.
The series was shot in many natural settings, especially in the Vosges, which particularly appealed to star actress Audrey Fleurot: "
There are many more outdoor scenes than in Le Bazar de la Charité, it gives more scale to the series, in my opinion.
The Fighters
is a more spectacular and more ambitious piece of fiction and I am confident of its audience success!
Also note that on October 6, the book adaptation of the Les Combattantes series will be published by Michel Lafon editions, signed by the novelist Adeline Fleury.
