First Look - Speakerine

If you’re nostalgic for the days of early television – black and white monitors, the flicker of video, news packages shot on film, big honking studio cameras, men in suits and skinny ties and women in heels and poofy hair – we can set you right up!

Speakerine takes place in a Parisian TV station in 1962 and follows the trajectory of Christine Beauval (Marie Gillain), the audience’s favorite program announcer. She’s a speakerine, which is French for a female anchor/announcer. In this series, the speakerines don’t appear involved with the news but do read the daily program lineup. They’re like window dressing for the station: a big problem for our heroine.

Christine longs to move from announcing to producing her own program about women’s lives, which she would call “Women’s Portraits.” As the series starts, she’s slogging along in a humdrum marriage with a TV exec, catering to two young adult children at home. Her struggles are predictable, given the two-dimensional male villains, but the clothing and sets entertain, along with the power plays and intrigues. It’s like a cross between Mad Men and Agatha Christie, with a whole lot of “All About Eve” thrown in. The subplots involve 1960s French politics and the Algerian War, so you may need a Wikipedia refresher on what was going on over there while we were busy with Viet Nam and civil rights.

You will recognize handsome Gregory Fitoussi (Spiral) – does that man ever take a bad picture?

So kick off your 2” heels, lose the stockings, throw on a pair of pedal-pushers and enjoy! Or if you’re a gentleman viewer, just loosen the tie and grab a martini.