Benjamin Voisin and Lina Khoudri in the next French series for Apple TV+

After Liaison, a spy series with Vincent Cassel and Eva Green, and Les Gouttes de Dieu, a Franco-Japanese co-production, Apple TV+ continues to establish itself in France. The streaming platform did indeed announce its new French-language production called Lent via a press release yesterday.

Directed by Martin Bourboulon, to whom we owe The Eiffel and The Three Musketeers, this drama series tells the incredible story of the world’s first chef, Antonin Carème, who rose to fame from his humble beginnings in Paris to become a master of the culinary arts. The beginning of the 19th century.

In the chaotic Europe of Napoleon, Antonin Carme, an orphan gifted with special talents, dreams of only one thing: to become the most famous chef in the world and to pass on his letters of nobility to the new art of gastronomy.

But to do this, he will have to make a deal with the devil and become a spy in the service of the Machiavellian man who raised politics to the level of art: Talleyrand.

Adapted from a true story, Fasting takes viewers into a world where the misery and austerity of kitchens mingles with the opulence of palaces, where true feelings are hurt by pretending and where manipulation is king.

To portray Antonin Carem, the play called Benjamin Voisin, a young actor who was crowned with the César of the best male hope in 2022 for his role in Xavier Gianoli’s film Illusions Perdues.

For this occasion, he answers to Jérémie Renier (Saint Laurent, Clocloux), who slips into the shoes of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, a Machiavellian diplomat who was foreign minister in the government of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Lina Khudri, who cast César for Papicha, will be Henriette, the woman who Karem falls madly in love with, but who may be his greatest threat.

The series is inspired by the book Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Karem – The First Celebrity Chef Author and actor by Ian Kelly. It was also created by the latter and screenwriter Davide Serino (Esterno Notte). Lent is executive produced by Vanessa Van Zullen for VVZ Production and Dominic Farrugia for Shine Fiction, a Banijay company, for Apple TV+.