Written and produced with great realism
by Jérémie Guez, this fiction aims to show
a new generation of investigators, breaking away from the old world.
After braquo (2009-2016) and gears (2005-2020), Canal+ was looking for a new detective series. She found BIS which follows the research and intervention brigade of Versailles, an elite unit specializing in organized crime. Saïd (Sofian Khammes) has just taken the lead. He succeeds the charismatic Patrick (Bruno Todeschini) and is struggling to find his bearings. The team responds to the orders of Commander Ferracci (Emmanuelle Devos, in a total counter-use). « BRI was born from the desire to renew the codes of the traditional cop series while paying homage to it», comments Jérémie Guez, author and director of the eight episodes of this first season. No wonder then that it gives off a slight impression of deja-vu. On the other hand, we are surprised that it disappears so quickly, giving way to the truer-than-life relationship of an almost documentary daily life, punctuated by endless hideouts, brutal interventions, sports training, bad sandwiches and exchanges often more than limits, between them, but also with the thugs.
The action in the foreground
“This tribute that I wanted to pay went through several things. Spend time in immersion at the BRI in Versailles, which I did for a year. Pay the greatest attention to the restitution of the perfect gesture. Show the dynamics of an elite team. Also show the inevitable evolution between the profession of cop of yesterday and that of today” adds the author, a specialist in this environment and the origin of several detective novels, two of which have already been brought to the screen ( Sons of PhiladelphiaAnd burn out ).
Patrick, his methods, his informants, his little arrangements, it’s over. Saïd embodies the next generation, a new generation of officers all the more concerned with respecting the rules as the thugs no longer follow any rules. The cops must be above reproach. Especially the youngest from the same neighborhoods, sometimes from the same families as the thugs…
The stakes are high. The camera is mobile, precise, lively, energetic. The faces are barely made up. The shots are very wide or very tight. The production does not dwell on beauty or theatricality but on the density of each take. The action dominates. The words hit. The silences make sense. The characters are well characterized. The cast, excellent, opposes Devos, Todeschini and Vincent Elbaz, alas a little too caricatural as a caïd on the return, to five or six small newcomers of great stature, including Ophélie Bau and Théo Christine.
A definitely new breath.
The soundtrack, very rap, strengthens the link between the two worlds. Cops or thugs? The border is tenuous. What the series tends to demonstrate.BIS is less subtle than gears but more effective than Braquo. It is less addictive than Mafiosa but more edifying than Les Crimson rivers. It does not completely renew the genre but brings it a definitely new breath.
Launched Monday, April 24,BISrecorded the best audience for an original Canal+ creation in four years with the broadcast of the first two episodes. Season 1, available in eight episodes, ends on May 15 with a promising end. As if she had left to accompany us for a few years…