French TV drama recommendation: The world does not exist

Director: Erwan le Duc 

Starring Niels Schneider, Maud Wyler and Julien Gaspar-Oliveri

Four one-hour episodes

This intriguing, if sometimes frustrating, drama set in a fictional, rundown northern French town went largely unnoticed when it first aired, but a recent re-showing on the Franco-German channel Arte, which made it, saw it find a new audience. 

It tells the story, often in a slow-paced manner with the occasional absurdist flourish, of Adam Vollmann (played by French-Canadian actor Niels Schneider), a 40-year-old newspaper journalist based in Paris who returns to his home town to investigate the murder of a teenager.

The chief suspect is Axel Challe, who has gone on the run after public opinion has already deemed him culpable, a former childhood friend and confidante of Niels. The journalist assures his editor that by using his contacts he will deliver a scoop.

Once he arrives, Niels – who now uses a different name to his birth name – finds he is not welcome and encounters hostility from many of those close to the case, including some who bullied him at school. As he learns more about the path that Axel took since the school days, he is convinced of his innocence.

Based on the 2020 novel by Fabrice Humbert, this TV adaptation of Le Monde n’existe pas – its French title – features intense acting performances notably by Schneider, and while it sags at times, is a compelling enough psychological thriller.

Stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Also out: Cash Queens

New to Netflix with English subtitles, this eight-episode drama-comedy features a gang of five female friends who disguise themselves as men to rob banks.