Famous horror writer, Emma Larsimon, travels back to her hometown after the return of a woman who haunted her dreams as a teenager. She believes her horror novels are fiction, until awful things begin happening in real life.
Marianne (2019) is a French television horror drama, available on Netflix (English voice over dubbing). The programme was directed by Samuel Bodin, who also wrote the series alongside Quoc Dang Tran.
I was first drawn to the series by its haunting cover art, featuring Mireille Herbstmeyer with her portrayal of Madame Daugeron. I'm so glad I decided to watch because I was invested from beginning to end. What a fantastic horror.
Characters
The characters in this show are so interesting, all of them containing strong backstories. It was clear their life didn't begin when the television show did. Even little things like Emma's mum and her stuffed tomato specialty - small things make a big difference in the realism of the characters.
Emma, our protagonist, was a very complex character. I can openly say that at times, I hated her. She is honestly an awful person. She has her good aspects but she is also manipulative, rude and seems to lack morals. I particularly hated her relationship with Seby (Ralph Amoussou). They were in a romantic relationship as teenagers, before she left for many years. When she returns, he is married to his heavily pregnant wife and has a stepson. Despite this, she attempts to kiss him in their house then has sex with him (when she believes it to be him but it is in fact a demon disguised as Seby). She seemed to have no shame or guilt towards having sex with a man who has literally just had a baby with his wife. She even called his wife fat to Camile (Lucie Boujenah) and tells their son gossip in hopes to destroy their marriage.
Her excuse for all this is that she is jealous. Yet, I feel like so much time has passed, she should definitely not still be bothered by their high school romance. I don't empathise with her in this situation, I feel it shows her awful character. I hoped she would have grown out of this throughout the series but she remained firmly in her bad ways. I feel slightly positive about this because it's more realistic. I don't believe a person like her could change so dramatically. However, I feel such discomfort as it's a very unfamiliar case to dislike and disagree with our protagonist - and that's how they want us to feel.
I had a few favourite characters. Camile was lovely, she seemed to be the nice voice of reason within the show so it was horrible to see Emma destroy her in many ways. Inspector Ronan was such a great character, he was so diverse and quirky. Even the smaller role of Pat (Alexandre Philip) was a really enjoyable, fun and curious character who was great to watch.
Inspiration
It would be interesting to talk about the films that the programme seemed to pay homage to. I feel anyone could recognise the references towards the popular horror book and films It (Novel by Stephen King). There were minor things such as a child in a yellow raincoat playing next to the drain. Larger similarities such as the narrative being a reunion of a group of old childhood friends. Though strangely enough, the first thing I noticed was the similarity in atmosphere to the recent It Chapter Two (2019). I recognised this within the first episode.
There was a trailer for It Chapter Two showing a scene in the film, when Beverley (Jessica Chastain) goes to her childhood home, where an old woman is currently living. The woman has this terrifying smile and stare, and we see her quickly walk past naked. I believe it is such an uneasy feeling because it's not common we see older women naked in film, they are always 'modest' and never seen in this way. In the first episode of Marianne, this is the exact feeling we receive with their inclusion of nudity and the scary smile and stare.
There could possibly be a nod towards Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), with the narrative of having sex with the devil/demon. Also, when she believed Seby's baby was a demon, after dreaming about it. She is hysterical and nobody else believes her. This is similar to the whole narrative of Rosemary's Baby. When we reach the very end of the programme, we see that Emma is pregnant with what we have discovered was a demon who had sex with her, disguised as Seby. The same experience as Rosemary.
One of my favourite scenes that I will discuss later includes a sinister phone call, similar to famous scenes from horror franchise Scream. Weirdly enough, it had some Stranger Things vibes in there also! I believe there are many inspirations for this programme, I'd love to hear if anyone picked up on anything else.
Negative Critiques
I have very few negative notes about this programme. My main frustration is with the character of Emma, which I can't even decide whether it is a negative. I feel as though I like the fact that we have this very unlikable character as our main girl. It changes it up and makes it more fun but because of my frustration towards her choices I automatically want to put it as a negative.
However, a completely negative note that I feel was the only thing I truly had a problem with in this programme. DON'T SHOW THE DEMON. The only bad thing I found was the visual effects. When they showed the demons animated round eyes or in the final episode when we saw the demon in the grave or the witch in the house. If it's not going to look scary or 'real' enough then please just leave it to the imagination. The whole series we are scared of these monsters and then when they appear looking like something out of a Tim Burton animation it's a little disappointing. I would rather it be left either in human form or just completely unseen. The scariest representation of the witch was by far in Madame Daugeron (Mireille Herbstmeyer). This woman knows how to be creepy. The smiling, the staring - that's what is scary.
Positive Critiques
The whole show was really well filmed, great camerawork and the lighting and sound was also pleasant. I enjoyed the set design in this programme too, particularly Madame Daugeron's home and Pat's shop. The choice of music was really good and increased suspense dramatically. Special shout out to the prop design of the terrifying little bundles of skin containing teeth, nails and hair - they were creepier every time I saw them!
Looking back, one of my favourite scenes was probably the long scene of Camile when she goes to the bathroom in Emma's childhood home (episode one). The whole scene goes from 0-100. It's creepy and you very much put yourself in her position being alone in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. When she covers her ears from the blaring house alarm, we hear the plugging of her ears, we are placed into her position and it was scary and brilliant.
One of their scare tactics is this weird fever dream vibe. Not only in her nightmares but in real life. People just disappearing in an instant - the priest in the first episode, her friends in the last episode. It makes you feel out of control. They had a way of making the characters feel alone in social situations. For example, when they were playing the Ouija board as a group, only Emma is able to see the witch; making her alone and vulnerable. When they return to the lighthouse, they aren't annoying and stupid, wandering off alone. They are pretty much forced into isolation.
When Marianne the witch is possessing Madame Daugeron's body she did such chilling things. Even when she wets herself and Camille feels sorry for her and tries to help her, Daugeron forced Camille's hand into her urine and won't let her go. It's not causing her pain but it's the horror of it and disgust that was so shocking. Or when the lady catches the two girls in her home, she grabs a knife and we would automatically fear being stabbed by the women. However, she begins to saw off her own arm. When we see that someone is this insane to saw off their own arm, we are able to see they're extremely dangerous and willing to do anything.
The show really allows us to grow close to the characters. The plot was distressing by itself but the added attachment to the characters made the events that take place more hurtful. I was truly saddened by some of the characters deaths. Or when Emma as a teenager was advised to destroy all of her relationships so she could be sent away, it was horrible to see how she had to upset her mother in order to do what was best. Then there were other scenes that were really just sad such as the little girl Lucy (Romane Libert) and her accidental death whilst playing hide and seek.
I always say that I appreciate horror the most when they can scare me without jump scares. This programme did one up. It scared me without jump scares but then increased that fear by including them. They didn't overdo it. They included the anxiety and threat of a jump taking place, without giving too much to jump about. I was scared anyway, but with the additional threat, it was truly gripping and a great horror.
Final Thoughts
I was genuinely shocked when we discovered that Emma had in fact not slept with Seby. I felt great relief that he hadn't cheated on his wife but I was so shocked. Then to discover her pregnancy (even though the pregnancy test was clearly drawn on)! Side note: why would you have unprotected sex with a married man who has just had a baby? But despite that, very surprising. Due to the intensity of the situation I presume there will be a second season. I kind of hoped it was just the one season because too many shows drag on too far but I am also excited to see more. Let's just hope that any following episodes live up to the high bar they have set themselves with this brilliant first season.
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