How sad is this?

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Over the last decades, in Europe, we've been swamped with the older female detective character with a family in tow. Some have a weak excuse for a husband to emphasise their strength, many others are independent single mothers who struggle with a demanding job and raising their kids. To be honest, I'm not a fan of the genre. Nothing against strong and independent women, au contraire. I just prefer decent detective work above being sucked into the personal life of a fictional character. If I wanted to see family drama I'd go watch a sitcom. It's beyond me why the detective genre has to be muddled with sitcom-esque fluff like this. (I wouldn't buy it, but it's programmed on TV *instead* of a proper detective). I can accept a modest degree of family life. After all, Beck and Wallander have families too. However, they are primarily detectives, and every episode is about solving the case. "Candice Renoir" is more sitcom than detectives. And it's just as tacky and kitschy as the name already suggests. A fifty-something big mama, who seems to think she's Brigitte Bardot in the seventies, miraculously becomes the team leader of a small town detective team. She blunders through everything, but 'magically' finds clues in fashion magazines and the likes. She's supposed to portray the strong and independent older woman who can do it all, kids and playing the boss- detective, but it's way to contrived to be the least bit believable. Her character, the rainbow team, the younger cutesy neighbour - who has stamped "love interest" in all caps across his handsome forehead - it's all a stylised light version of a concept we've seen many, many times before. And now it's here again, only worse. Yay. To be fair, the acting of the team and other characters varies from passable to decent, but the lead actress is really milking the diva character, and as such, overacting horribly in just about every scene.It might just about do as daytime TV, on a rainy afternoon, but that's probably me being generous.

I am a keen student of the French language so I keep an eye out on the French channel TV5 MONDE for programmes with subtitles as a fun way of building up my French vocabulary. I happened upon this series and I am hooked! Even though I cannot understand half (or more) of what is going on! It is a great series and the actors are good. It has a light comedic element so it does not rely on the more ponderous gloom prevalent in The Killing or The Bridge for example but it does tackle tough crime stories and it does it well.Captain Renoir is a single mother of four who has had to return to work after ten years and she is doing it with aplomb despite the withering and undisguised hauteur of her senior officer who is approximately 10 years her junior. Renoir is admirably impervious and her attitude is juxtaposed humorously well, including frequent interruptions from the range of farm animal ringtones her children have assigned to her phone to identify their calls. I am hoping an English channel commissions the series and provides me with the luxury of English subtitles.