At the dawn of the twentieth century there is political turmoil in Paris. The president has died in scandalous circumstances and various unpleasant groups, including anti-Semites and anarchists, are vying for power. Police chief Louis Lépine is brought out of retirement in order to help the authorities maintain control. Against this background the body of a young woman is found in a trunk floating in the River Seine. Ambitious young officer Antoine Jouin takes a lead in the investigation and frequently finds himself in danger. Meanwhile Meg Steinheil, the woman involved with the late president, is enlisted to spy on one of the main anti-Semitic groups.
I really enjoyed this French series; it nicely intertwines factual and fiction. Not being familiar with French history I couldn't always tell which was which; I knew of the infamous 'Dreyfus affair' but was surprised to read that the death of the president is also likely to be true! The combination of a murder mystery and political scheming leads to plenty of excitement; protagonists are frequently in extreme danger; sometimes from people they think they can trust. There is a great atmosphere created by the way the series is filmed; the cast does a solid job. As is often the case these days the series was preceded by a warning about offensive discriminatory language usually this means there will be the occasional racist term but here there are long anti-Semitic diatribes; these are necessary to show just how vile certain characters are but certainly shocked. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of dramas in a historical setting.
These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.
