«The Fall»: the detective series with an edge

Saturday's Netflix & chill - Fanny Agostino

Broadcast between 2013 and 2016, The Fall can be considered one of the most successful thrillers of the last decade. Offering a thriller This little British gem plunges us into the depths of a morbid investigation: a hunt for the serial-killer in the maze of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Classic in appearance, this production is surprising in terms of the depth of its characters and its portrayal of the mechanics of justice.

A grotesquely staged, voyeuristic first crime: a white, brunette, single professional woman lies naked on her bed. Some of her lingerie has disappeared. A scenario repeated on the streets of Belfast. Banal scenario. The plot shifts: from the very first episodes, the identity of the criminal leaves little doubt in the viewer's mind. Paul Spector, a family man and psychologist with respectable appearances, is a serial killer whose crimes have a voyeuristic dimension. In short, he's a Dexter Morgan, minus the morality and sense of justice. Specially flown in from London, Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson is dispatched to oversee the stalled investigation of her Irish colleagues. She soon makes the connection between the succession of murders and the repetitive modus operandi. The manhunt between the superintendent and the killer gives rise to a relationship that cultivates the dark side of each.

From investigator to masochistic CEO

Who would have bet on the meeting between the future star the mawkish bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey and one of the most beloved series of the nineties? Yet this casting is one of the series' strengths. On the one hand, a role tailor-made for Gillian Anderson, best known for her role as Dana Scully in X-Files. Although she appears in the very first episode, she is involved in an investigation that has been ongoing for several weeks. This deus machina contributes to the construction of a character as mysterious as she is respectable. Beyond the hierarchical relationship, Stella Gibson doesn't fit into the mold of novelistic personnel associated with detective fiction: neither femme fatale nor tortured investigator, which is an exception in female roles.

The series doesn't get bogged down in thematizing the ambiguous relationship emerging between this status of woman with responsibilities and the male-dominated work environment - as was the case with the character of Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) in spin-off «Special Victims Unit» from the series Law and Order - Rather, we approach them through detours such as the heroine's relationship with her superior, or her fight to have the serial killer's wife's charges dropped for perjury.

The scriptwriters have exploited the star system associated with the actress since her role in X-filesA confirmed investigator, she is meticulous and has an implacable sense of analysis. She is also a cold, mysterious character. Anderson is also a sexually liberated character, with an independence that makes her stand out from the crowd. As for Paul Spector, he's played by Jamie Dornan who, while the series is in production, will become the big-screen embodiment of readers' fantasies about E. L. James' Christian Grey trilogy. The two actors are remarkable in the game of concealment and secrecy they play in their sometimes silent exchanges, and thus in their unhealthy relationship.

Behind the scenes: beyond investigative work

Another brilliant element is the series« ability to reveal all the work that goes into a forensic investigation. What is usually evacuated in a sequence by a phone call and the famous line: »I've got the lab results" is shown on screen in scenes that don't just fill in the sequences. From the work of the coroner to that of the crime scene evidence searchers and morticians, all the trades involved in solving the crime are mobilized. In this way, the scenario progresses with gentle steps, without neglecting errors of deduction or missteps with disastrous consequences.

Without being as oriented towards the psychological aspect of murder and the reasons that can drive a human being to commit the irreparable as is the series The Sinner, The Fall transcends the classic model of the cat-and-mouse chase between the representative of justice and the criminal. His characters gain in depth through his ability not to dig deep into what is exploitable, but to preserve the darkness and reveal, in the course of a few anecdotes, the subtlety of the human race.

Write to the author: fanny.agostino@leregardlibre.com

Photo credits: © Des Willie / The Fall 3 Ltd