The Swarm – The fifth day is a German series in four episodes which arrives tonight on Rai 2 at 9.20pm. Filmed almost exclusively in Italy, between Puglia and Venetoit is a story of environmentalist thriller genre that imagines a world destroyed by man which finally – after years of ecological violence – rebels against man, “declaring war on humans.
The Swarm – The fifth dayplot and previews of the first episode
Charlie Wagner (Leonie Benesch) is a marine biologist sent to the Shetland Islands, in Scotland, to conduct a series of surveys. One day he finds out a large quantity of frozen methane on the surface of the water, usually present only on the seabed.
Meanwhile, equally strange phenomena occur in other parts of the world: a fisherman is killed by a school of fish in Peru, a group of humpback and gray whales off Vancouver Island seem to disappear into thin air; on the French Atlantic coast a chef dies after touching the liquid produced by a lobster.
Cécile Roche (Cécile De France), a molecular biologist trying to understand the cause of the death of the chef, and of two other kitchen workers, he begins to make hypotheses. As well as Sigur Johanson (Alexander Karim), a scientist who in the Norwegian Sea is tasked with carrying out a research on some worms who are mysteriously eating ice from an ocean slope.
A well-made but not very “modern” series
Transposition of The fifth day – bestseller by Frank Schätzing with more than 4.5 million copies sold –, The Swarm – The fifth day it is produced by the German public channel ZDF. Which, sparing no expense, he put on the table a budget of 40 million euros, thus creating one of the most expensive television products ever shot in Europe.
Schätzing’s novel has been defined by many an eco-thriller and faithfully follows the principles of the “Gaia” theory”. For which living organisms interact with inorganic life forms to create and maintain a self-regulating system. Thus allowing the continuation of life on Earth.
Fascinating theory, even if a little dated, which unfortunately is one of the biggest limitations of the entire series. The Swarm in fact it was filmed last year and, especially after the three pandemic years, perhaps it would have need of a “re-adaptation” to modern times (the novel was published in 2004).
Leonie Benesch in a scene from “The Swarm – The fifth day”. (ZDF)
The cast ofThe Swarm: Cécile De France
Another weak point of the series is the excessive number of protagonists and supporting characters where no character manages to stand out in a particular way. Thus penalizing not exactly a lively paceespecially in the first few episodes.
The international cast, however, gives an excellent overall performance and the series succeeds well maintain the very fine balance between scientific realism and catastrophic “science fiction” scenarios. A round of applause also to the very accurate special effectswhich is rare in a European production, than in many underwater scenes they have nothing to envy of the saga Avatars by James Cameron.
Cécile De France on the Cannes red carpet. (Getty Images)
It stands out above all Cécile De FranceBelgian actress for several years one of the most sought after performers in European and non-European productions (in Italy famous for the role of Sofia Dubois in the series The Young Pope by Paolo Sorrentino). She was recently seen in The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson.
Cecile he moved to France at the age of 17 in the mid-nineties, to devote himself to theatre. The film debut came in 2002 with the cult The Spanish apartment thanks to which he wins a César for Best New Actress. Role resumed last year in prequel series Greek salad available on Prime Video.
After many roles in transalpine productions, in 2010 he landed in America where is one of the protagonists of Hereafter by Clint Eastwood. Cecile has been married since 2006 with colleague Guillaume Sironwith whom he had two children: Lino and Joy.
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