The Forest - 'wood' you like to watch a great whodunit?

thegulls1

The lead review at IMDb for this Netflix original says the acting is pretty good and the scenery terrific, but he couldn't get with the story. Au contraire, mon frère, the play is the thing. A pretty young blond girl rides her bike into the forest, and never comes back. The husband of one of the local gendarmarie's officers admits to an affair with the girl, but seems to alibi out. Two other recent abductions (plus two historical) seem to match the killer's style, but who could it be?

A new (and abrupt) Police Chief arrives to shake things up as the clues begin to pile up. Also, a mysterious young helper, the tall blond French Teacher (Eve) at the Lycée, assists greatly by showing up at the right time, and by searching in just the right places in the mysterious Ardennes Forest, which is one of the nominal stars of the 'cast.'. I don't think you could spot the killer, unless you made a lucky guess.

I thought the atmosphere, character development and plot were excellent. Having watched an Aussie mini series just prior, I also appreciated the general lack of skin and (needless) cuss words in this production, by comparison, which, I agree is not typical of French cinema. The other appeal is the length-just 6 episodes, with most of the final chapter a careful wrap up of the aftermath once they get the 'guy'. This series alone is worth the price of one month's subscription to Netflix. And I will keep scouring the listings for other decent 1 season miniseries in the 'mystery' genre.

score 10/10

thegulls1 9 July 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4231935/