So this weekend we were nosing around Netflix looking for something to watch, and, as usual, we picked something spoopy. After checking out the new Bill Burr stand up special to see what all the fuss was about, we ended up settling on Marianne, a French horror series that was just added to the streaming service on Friday the 13th. Marianne is eight episodes centering on Emma, a young woman who has written a wildly successful series of YA horror novels about a girl named Lizzie Larck who fights an evil witch named—yes, you guessed it—Marianne. But it turns out the Marianne story hits close to home—a little too close to home, as the titular witch has been tormenting Emma’s friends and family for years. After one of her childhood friends commits suicide right in front of her, Emma returns home to the small seaside town where she grew up in order to face her demons—or in this case, witches.
Marianne consists of a hell of a cast, starring:
French Kristen Stewart:
Female Harry Potter:
Almost-But-Not-Quite-Fooled-Us-Into-Thinking-This-Was-Christina Ricci:
and
This guy, who not only looks like, but also acts like the bumbling ghost hunting assistants from the Insidious movies…
except somehow he’s a cop:
It also features:
This super cute house that I’d totally live in even if it is haunted AF.
And an army of adorable Volkswagens that I totally want to steal.
Okay, fine. All jokes aside, the main star is named Victoire du Bois (but don’t even try to tell me she’s not French Kristen Stewart), and she does do an excellent job. Most of the cast does, actually. The acting was very good without being overdramatic or way too over the top. (We also watched I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, for example, and that girl needs to tone it down…at least in my opinion.) All the actors did a really excellent job of conveying genuine emotion and horror and really pulling you into the story as you watched. There is one actress, however, who I thought was an absolute showstopper, but I’ll get to that in a second.
The whole show is really creepy throughout, which means for the most part, I enjoyed it. I think the concept is pretty cool and while the concept can easily lean toward being a bit cheesy, it only has a couple cheesy moments, which seemed like intentional nods which were done with a bit of a wink and a nudge rather than poor writing. (At least, that was my interpretation of it. Perhaps the writers would tell you otherwise, but art is subjective, after all.)
The plot is pretty scary and disturbing, at times taking little jaunts down even more disturbing side streets that you’re not even expecting. As everything unfolds, it just gets really weird and gruesome and you find yourself torn between whether you should cringe away from the screen or lean closer to see what happens next.
I’ll tell you this: this is probably not a show you want to eat during. I mean if you have a strong stomach, by all means, bust out the Red Vines and popcorn, but there are some episodes that are definitely going go turn you away from the munchies due to the graphic imagery.
The overall atmosphere of the show is kind of gray and bleak, which just goes so well with the concept and plotline, making everything darker, not just in the imagery, but also the feeling. The majority of the story takes place in a dreary, old seaside town, and seems to be filmed with this grayish almost overcast tint that’s really visually appealing. The setting also lends itself to some beautiful shots of the waves crashing and flowing, as well as one of my favorite things about the show: a really adorable wardrobe.
While the main character stays in the same tee, jeans, and red hoodie for a good portion of the series due to staying in her hometown longer than she initially planned (and despite routinely reminding her friends that she is rich now, apparently not being able to swing by a shop and at least grab a couple more shirts), the rest of the cast is routinely bundled in cozy fisherman sweaters, fur-trimmed parkas, knit beanies, cuffed jeans, and duck boots. The outfits had me swooning. I’m way more of a sucker for this kind of thing than sparkly gowns or skintight numbers, and there was more than one sweater I wish I could steal straight from the wardrobe trailer of this show.
And then live in. And never leave the house. Ever.
Full disclosure: I liked probably about 98% of this show, but there were a couple small drawbacks. (Hey—nobody’s perfect.)
One of these drawbacks is the physical representation of the witch, Marianne, in the last few episodes of the series. In the early episodes, Marianne—who can and does possesses various humans during her time on this earthly plane—resides in the body of an old woman who is also the mother of one of Emma’s childhood friends. This manifestation of Marianne is, in my eyes, the absolute creepiest, most disconcerting, and disturbing version of her. This woman–Mirelle Herbstmeyer–nailed the role and was wildly unsettling and sometimes even downright gross. Some of the faces and expressions she made really did look like she was possessed. She was amazing—easily the best actress in the show—and one of the major contributing factors to how horrifying the show was.
Unfortunately, Marianne doesn’t always take the form of Mrs. Daugeron, which is a shame. In her more true form or the form she takes in what seems to be the spirit plane vs. the mortal plane, which seems to be how she looked back when she was alive, she is played by the almost-Christina-Ricii looking actress, and she also possesses various beings throughout the series. But it is her…I guess you could say “dead form” or “ghost form” that is downright laughable. Closer to the end of the show, Marianne shows up a couple of times, such as haunting her own grave or terrorizing Emma in her home in the form of a…bug-eyed all black Halloween mask with a tongue permanently hanging out???
I don’t even know, guys! I don’t know what it is, but it’s so silly. It doesn’t even really emote or anything—it genuinely looks like a cheap rubber Halloween mask from Spirit or Party City. Johnathan’s take on it was, “Okay, guys, we’re out of money in the budget, so we’re just going to use this ugly puppet for the rest of the show,”…and that’s honestly what it looks like. How is the rest of the show so visually stunning and then they just toss this absolute caricature of a witch mask at us unless they legitimately ran out of money? It really detracts from the horror when you’re openly laughing at how the villain looks.
The only other thing I didn’t love was the ending to the series. It was just a little “meh”. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t one of my favorites, either. It does open some potential doors for a possible season two.
Overall, though, this show is really good and really spooky, and better than a lot of scary movies I’ve seen lately. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and binged the entire thing in one weekend, and have no regrets. It was a good way to spend a weekend. It thoroughly creeped me out and was stomach-churning in some moments. But at the same time, the gore seemed earned and not like they were being gross just for the sake of being gross (I’m looking at you, every Saw movie ever and the absolute disgrace that is Hostel). It also had some touching moments, and even though some of the characters—Emma included—are not always the most likable, they’re very real and often relatable.
(Sidenote, has anyone ever noticed that in TV shows and movies from other countries, the actors and actresses often look much more real and we can see their skin/pores, whereas in the U.S. people are sometimes airbrushed, made up, and edited to absolute hell and back? I have an appreciation for this—you know, seeing humans in my movies.)
It’s been said that the French really know how to do horror well, and Marianne is further proof of that. Foreign horror is sometimes a lot darker, more subtle, and more appealing than modern (or at least recent) American horror films, so I’m glad Netflix is offering this French series for those of us across the pond here. (P.S.: Don’t let “having to read the whole movie” turn you away. It is French, but it’s been dubbed over in English, and it’s actually an excellent dub job, and doesn’t distract from the story at all. The only thing that’s distracting is if you try to watch the English version with English subtitles, because they do not match at all and are in fact a little bit of a disaster. Good for a quick laugh, but not actually helpful at all.)
I highly recommend this one, easily a 4.5/5 stars if you’re looking for a star rating system. Definitely check it out if you love all things spoopy. It’s perfect for the fall/upcoming Halloween season, or even just for horror fans who are tired of seeing the same old, same old and are looking for something new and dark to sink their teeth into.
Has anyone else watched Marianne? What did you think? Was it scary or creepy to you? Who was your favorite character? Let me know in the comments! As always, I’d love to hear from you. <3