French crime-drama Alter Ego (Mediawan) now available in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice!
Capitaine Dea Versini (Carole Weyers), an offbeat, atypical cop usually solves murders in Reims with her invisible, imaginary childhood friend, Jimmy (Francois Vincentelli) – always dapper in a tuxedo and sunglasses. Only Dea can see and hear him, or speak to him. Jimmy’s presence at crime scenes allows him to point to clues missed by the forensics and police team.
Turning 40, Dea is at a crossroads: she is divorced from Dr. Vincent Laubrier (Benjamin Bellecourt), a famous neurologist and the father of their son, Theo (Giacomo Angiotti). Her father, Massimo Versini (Francois Dunoyer, The Return of Arsène Lupin and The New Adventures of Arsène Lupin) is a retired perfumer and his grandson’s frequent babysitter. Dea’s boss, Commissaire Xavier Fremont (Pierre Laplace) and the entire police force make allowances for her eccentricities giving her the freedom necessary to solve homicides at her own pace.
Dea and Jimmy are the perfect crime-solving duo complementing each other, sharing jokes while he makes faces and sarcastic remarks. Jimmy is jealous of her new partner, Lieutenant Matthieu Delcourt (Ambroise Michel), the buttoned-down, well-dressed conformist, who transferred from Paris, and whose dossier marked TOP SECRET raises flags. Dea’s psychologist, P. Martin (Denis Sebbah) is the only one who believes that Jimmy is a real, integral part of her life because as she states, he gets paid to do so.
ALTER EGO — known in French as DOUBLE JE — is an eight-part police procedural filmed in 2019 by co-creators and –producers, Camille Pouzol, Stephane Drouet and Lionel Olenga. Drouet and Olenga may be familiar to fans of Cherif – the popular six-season police series featuring the formulaic partnership with the unconventional Capitaine Kader Cherif and his new partner, the by-the-book, Capitaine Adeline Briard. Alter Ego’s literary director, Joyce Aker, inspired the writers, who visualize this dramedy under the skilled direction of Laurent Dussaux and the imaginative production team who can make Jimmy appear or disappear. The suspects are endless, but their motives – when parsed – are always the simplest – and yet – most provocative to discern in each episode that is constructed like a jigsaw puzzle, where the final piece is only found at the end.
SIDE NOTE:
An invisible friend – in human or animal form – has mythological and literary precursors, whose popularity is also visible in cinematic form. Mary Chase’s 1944 Broadway hit, Harvey was transferred to the screen with James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd, whose invisible friend, Harvey, is a white, 6’3.5” rabbit — who is sometimes benign and sometimes mischievous; Harvey can stop time and transport anyone to any destination bringing him/her back without time elapsed. Elwood takes Harvey drinking and introduces him to strangers. Elwood’s friends accept Harvey’s “supposed” existence.
Originating in German folklore and adapted by Celtic mythology, Harvey is an example of a ‘pooka.’ A pooka can bring good or bad luck, and have white or dark hair. They are shape shifters who may appear as dogs, goats, horses, rabbits as well humans with animal features such as odd ears or a tail.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We happily discovered Dr. Pearl Brandwein while reviewing MHz Choice subscriber feedback on our programs and, after reading a half dozen or so of Dr. Brandwein’s insightful reviews, all of us here at MHz Choice had the same thought: We need to get the good doctor to write for us! Enjoy! -MHz Choice
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