Almost a year after the debut on Streamz, One also broadcasts the crime series with Veerle Baetens.
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Turned to French standards with a penny, but you can’t tell. Almost a year after the premiere on Streamz, the gritty crime series continues Cheyenne & Lola premiered on One. So it’s high time for an introduction to the story and the actresses.
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The characters?
Cheyenne, just released from prison, works as a cleaning lady on the ferry between England and France. She dreams of fleeing her current existence and moving to the Amazon forest. Lola is a ravishing, selfish Parisian who moves in with her lover and yearns for a better life. Their lives become entwined when they are caught by a local mobster dumping a corpse, and their Thelma & Louise-esque escape unleashes a feminist revolution.
Actresses?
For Veerle Baetens (43), who portrays Cheyenne, this was her seventh role in France. Years after the success of The broken circle breakdown, which soared high with our southern neighbors, the French continue to pull on its sleeve. Her co-star is the Canadian Charlotte Le Bon (35), nominated in 2015 for a César for her role in the film Yves Saint Laurent. Each prepared for the role in a different way.
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“Veerle was already very involved in advance”, says director Eshref Reybrouck (40). “She asked countless questions about the character’s actions. In France, actors don’t do that. The French screenwriter was somewhat irritated by this. Charlotte didn’t say anything. I feared she didn’t take her job seriously. But just before the shooting, she did come out with a diary in which she had analyzed the entire scenario.”
The decor?
The eight episodes were filmed for five months in the French departments of Normandy and Pas-de-Calais. Not in the photogenic places you would expect, but often in the impressive gray industrial zone in Dunkerque. “Where we filmed in Normandy, the region has something western-like,” says Reybrouck. “A truckers café that serves as a saloon in the story completed the picture.”
The reactions?
The series premiered on Streamz a year ago and also attracted international attention. Though opinions were divided. Some reviewers were bothered by the slow pace, but praised the acting and cinematography. The Wall Street Journal for example, praised the fact that the crime is portrayed very raw, and not romanticized as in many other series. A second season is in the works, but details are not yet known.
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