Which series are you tipping this week, Mark?
The French Thriller Series Les Papillons Noirs (Netflix, six episodes). There are quite a few serial killer series on Netflix. What bothers me is that these screwed-up people are given a bigger stage than they usually deserve, while the victims come off badly – like footnotes in a serial killer’s biography. Les Papillons Noirsalso to be found under the English title Black Butterfliesis a pleasant variation on this theme.
“The series is entirely fictional, so it’s not like any case is being exposed. The main character is a writer with a rather violent past. He once wrote a successful autobiographical book but now runs into the dreaded writer’s block. He wonders: what else do I have to say? At that moment he is contacted by an older man. He wants to pay the writer to have his life story written. Fine, the writer thinks, then I don’t have to think about the empty pages of my novel.
‘The older man begins to tell his life story. It soon becomes apparent that his story is also a kind of confession. He and his then girlfriend murdered a man in the 1970s after he attacked his girlfriend on the beach. That murder, which you can see as a kind of self-defense, sparked a desire in the couple to kill more often, the old man says. The writer starts tapping on the life story. His publisher says: you have gold on your hands, thinking this is fiction. Meanwhile, we also follow a detective who is working on unsolved cases from the 1970s. You can already feel: those lines are going to come together.
‘I think that’s quite an original way to get into a story like this. The memories of the old man are depicted in a wonderfully exuberant way. You see colors that you associate with summers in the 1970s, such as bright orange and yellow. So the makers have looked very closely at genre films from the seventies, characterized by intense editing, contrasting colors and excited acting. That makes Les Papillons Noirs to a cocktail of things that are completely different from what you’re used to from American thrillers. You are misguided time and again. Yes, very entertaining.’
Whose deed. And then you want to talk about the final episodes of The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon.
‘Yes, two prequels that had to build on the immense success of their predecessors The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. There is an incredible amount of money in both series, so quite a bit is at stake for Amazon, which has bought all the rights from Tolkien heirs, and HBO, which hopes the success of prestige series Game of Thrones to continue.
‘Based on the first episodes, I wrote about both The Rings of Power if House of the Dragon that it is still a bit of a wait and can go either way. The Rings of Power I found it becoming more fun, and more interesting; you saw more and more how the storylines direction The Lord of the Rings sheaves. After seeing the final episode you think: now it can really start. All players are known, the adventure opens.
‘From House of the Dragon the tenth and final part was shown last weekend. And the last episode was by far the best. Oh yes, now I understand the run-up we were taking in all those episodes, I thought. Earlier I wrote that I found it difficult that the story of House of the Dragon takes place in one place and within one family. As a viewer, you often sit at the table with people, at a banquet, in a hall. In short, not much happens. While my feeling is: you have to go outside, be on your way, there must be a danger from elsewhere – that’s what fantasy is all about. Fortunately, the last episode is more about that entire continent of Westeros Game of Thrones, the view is widened. That makes me curious again.’