3 out of 5

Created by: Hervé Hadmar, Marc Herpoux

The plotting suffers a bit from grandiosity which never quite feels like it supports everyone’s motivations, but if you accept the perpetrators as a small circle of extremists, it’s acceptable, and the brilliant acting and wonderfully dread-soaked atmosphere are certainly enough to make it easier to set this quirk aside.  ‘Witnesses’ is a cop mini-series, covering an odd string of murders / disruptions where bodies are dug up – after dying from mysterious circumstances – and arranged in showroom houses in very particular displays.  Investigating is Sandra (Marie Dompnier), the whip-smart chip-on-her-shoulder female detective who’s out to prove to any and everyone that female detectives can run the show, a complex that wasn’t assisted by an unfavorable training under the semi-retired Paul Maisonneuve (Thierry Lhermitte), who, of course, ends up pairing with Sandra, called out of his isolation due to elements of the case obviously being designed for his attention.  Sandra and Paul butt heads, withholding information, paralleling hidden elements of their lives which – in Sandra’s instance – are curiously explored so peripherally to the focus of the first few episodes it’s almost as though you’re watching a different person at a different time.  This assists with the generally murky and mysterious vibe of the show, and also underlines the extreme duality the ends up existing for all involved.  The case revelations are a bit left field, and, as mentioned, although the case particulars are strange, the manner in which the villains react and are handled feels oddly disproportionate to events.  The show also suffers from a common problem with procedurals, where it all-too-often feels like there are only two or three people on the force – useful for lending drama – and then all of a sudden there’s a whole squad.  Hadmar and Herpoux don’t try to over-resolve everything by the end, which is appreciated, maintaining approximately the same professional / personal balance for the characters through all 6 episodes, though the elements never do get to feel effectively woven together beyond some high-level themes.  But Dompnier and Lhermitte are simply excellent, definitely assisting in keeping us glued to the screen, while the cold but rich cinematography (Jean-Max Bernard), unique coastal village setting, and bizarre case details maintain an air of purposefulness to the production.