''A Very Secret Service'' (french: Au service de la France) is a French
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
series created by Jean-François Halin and produced by Gilles de Verdière.
Premise
In 1960, young André Merlaux eagerly accepts a cryptic summons to take a position as a trainee officer with the French Secret Services (based on the
Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage). He will be watched over by the operations director Moïse, and reluctantly mentored by senior colleagues Moulinier (in charge of
African affairs), Jacquard (
Algeria), and Calot (
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
). It is the height of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and the position of France as a
Great Power is in crisis, faced with independence challenges from the colonies of
French West Africa
French West Africa (french: Afrique-Occidentale française, ) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burki ...
, above all the
fight over the independence of Algeria. French society is changing at home as well, with a rising
counterculture exemplified by growing
feminism and
New Wave cinema.
Cast and characters
Main cast
*
Hugo Becker as André Merlaux
* Wilfred Benaïche as Colonel Maurice Mercaillon
* Christophe Kourotchkine as Georges Préjean "Moïse"
*
Mathilde Warnier as Sophie Mercaillon
* Karim Barras as Jacky Jacquard
* Bruno Paviot as Roger Moulinier
* Jean-Édouard Bodziak as Jean-René Calot
*
Marie-Julie Baup as Marie-Jo Cotin
Secondary characters
*
Joséphine de La Baume
Joséphine de La Baume (born 8 October 1984) is a French actress, singer, film director, and model. In 2018, she started the rock and garage group Film Noir.
Career
In 2010 she worked with Romain Gavras on his debut film ''Our Day will come'' an ...
as Miss Clayborn
* Antoine Gouy as Henri Lechiot / Hervé Gomez / Schmid
* Philippe Resimont as Father Jean
* Julie Farenc as Nathalie
* Khalid Maadour as Moktar
* Stéphanie Fatout as Irène Mercaillon
* Axelle Simon as Marthe
* Baptiste Sornin as Planton, reception desk employee
Development
Principal photography for the first series took place between October 2014 and February 2015 in
ÃŽle-de-France and
Morocco.
The series recalls ''
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies'' in style and tone, although it is slightly more serious (writer Halin was also credited for the screenplay of all three OSS 117 films, and one of the three ''
Les Guignols
''Les Guignols'' (, ''The Puppets''), formerly ''Les Guignols de l'info'' (, ''The News Puppets''), was a daily satirical latex puppet show broadcast on the French television channel Canal+. It was created in 1988, inspired by '' Le Bébête Sh ...
'' authors). The show uses historical events as background or foreground for its action, similar to ''
Mad Men'' (such as the
Algerian war of independence and the first French nuclear test,
Gerboise Bleue).
Arte's president of fiction, Olivier Wotling, confirmed a second season to ''
Le Figaro''s TV Magazine on July 3, 2016.
In a March 2019 interview with the French language outlet
PureMédias, Hugo Becker expressed doubt regarding the likelihood of a third season, stating that the series had reached "the end of the arc," and adding that while "there might be material... the story is complete and I think that's fine." As an aside, however, several characters (including Moulinier, Jacquard, and Calot) as well as the SDECE office sets from the television show are vividly featured in ''
OSS 117: From Africa with Love'' (2021), indirectly creating a shared universe between the two franchises.
Episodes
Season 1 (2015)
Season 2 (2018)
Release
It was commissioned by
Arte, where it premiered in 2015,
and was later distributed worldwide by
Netflix on 1 July 2016.
The second season appeared on Netflix in August 2018. The show was removed from Netflix in November 2022.
Reception
Steve Greene of
IndieWire wrote that despite a "certain level of absurdity", the show was a "pretty well-calibrated balance between homage and parody".
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Very Secret Service
2015 French television series debuts
Television shows set in Paris
Television series set in 1960
Espionage television series
French-language Netflix original programming
French spy films
French spy comedy films
French comedy-drama television series
2010s French drama television series
2010s French comedy television series
French spy television series