“A perfect success”, “absolute”, “insurmountable”: here are the best French series of the year according to viewers

The best of 2023. During the month of December, AlloCiné offers thematic tops based on audience ratings to highlight the best films and series of the year and suggest some sequences.

In 2023, French television excelled in offering us beautiful little nuggets, at once original, poignant and important, performed by actors and, especially, actresses, brilliantly. Beyond Netflix, Disney, Prime and Canal, we focus on fiction on television, be it TF1, France TV, ARTE, M6 or even OCS. On the menu, an adventure between chemo friends and criminal investigation, like no other, is simultaneously comic, artistic, fantastic and authentic. Discover the top 5 best French series of 2023 by viewers!

5th – Les Randoneuses 3.8/5

Six women who are complete opposites embark on a crazy adventure: a trek to conquer the Dôme de la Lauze, at an altitude of around 4,000 meters! But Sarah, Naomi, Patty, Karen, Valerie and Morgan still have one thing in common: they all, directly or indirectly, have cancer. Lush scenery and brave challenge, despite the hardships, fatigue, frustration, shouting matches and danger, these hikers experience a human adventure that will bring them together forever. To film this moving and important series, TF1 called six talented actors from different backgrounds and generations: we named Alix Poisson, Clementine Cellarie (who received an award for her role at the Series Mania Festival), Camille Chameau, Josephine de. Meo, Claire Bylra, and Tiffany Daviot. In just six episodes – which you will devour – Les Randonneuses offers an ode to life and surpasses itself with subtlety and depth, laughter and emotion: you are dealing with a good and powerful series that deals with the topic of cancer without pathos. And it feels good.

4th – Good People 4.1/5

After the international success of La Trêve in 2016, Benjamin d’Aust, Stefan Bergman and Mathieu Donk tried their hand at a crazy black comedy in the tradition of the Coen brothers’ films, and it succeeded! Good People is the story of Linda, a tanning salon owner, and Tom, a Belgian gendarme, a debt-ridden couple who decide to create an insurance scam to start a new life in the sun. Thus they show that Linda died in a car accident. But trouble awaits: between an unreliable accomplice, a disappearance that doesn’t go unnoticed, and a police force that turns out to be more competent than expected, will the couple be able to pull off their plan? A portrait of an ordinary couple, exhausted and caught in a hellish spiral, the mini-series, which brilliantly combines humor and drama, carries the duo Beranger McNeese (Daphne Forestier in HPI) and Lucas Meister, who are not to be missed. Attached and still.

3rd – Polar Park 4.1/5

In 2011, writer David Rousseau (Jean-Paul Rouve) found inspiration in a woman he believed to be the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe in Pupupidoo. Twelve years later, he returned to the Polar Park series, a spiritual sequel to the film, in which the crime writer once again lacked inspiration. This time he goes to the coldest village in France after receiving a mysterious message. There, murders follow one another, murders that are as confusing as they are “artistic”. Seeing it as a starting point for the novel, Rousseau begins an investigation that disrupts that of Warrant Officer Luveto (Guillaume Gui). funny, surprising and very original, Polar Park By Gérald Hustach-Mathew, there is a criminal investigation, like no other, with a serial killer who turns his victims into works of art. Your absurdity, the snowy lands – we think of the Coen brothers’ Fargo – the small, disturbing mysterious town – David Lynch’s Twin Peaks – it’s all there, and it makes this series a surprise to discover if you haven’t already seen it.

2nd – Vortex 4.1/5

A police captain, Ludovic lost Melanie, the love of his life and the mother of his daughter Juliet, in an accident 27 years ago. But suddenly, thanks to a time gap, they can communicate between 1998 and 2025! Ludovic then warns Melanie: she will die in 11 days. But watch the butterfly effect: in trying to save her, Ludovic risks his current life, which he has rebuilt with his new wife Parvana and their son Sam… With Vortex we are far from the usual French detective fiction. : 6-episode mini-series successfully combines science fiction and thriller – and the result is excellent and original. Like Minority Report, the series is set in the near future where crime scenes are recreated in virtual reality. In the program, the question of life and the consequences of our choices, strong moments of emotion, an amazing duo of actors (Thomer Sisley and Camille Clarice), nostalgia between the past and the present, and a secret complex and exciting. We are suspended until the last moment. go.

1st – Sambre 4.4/5

We are in the late 80s, in the north of France. Women are always raped in the same way, on the same road, along the Sambre River. Police are not linking the attacks. It will take 30 years to arrest a man who never stopped acting and who is responsible for at least 54 rapes or sexual assaults. Directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Sambre hits hard – and completely won the hearts of AlloCiné viewers, who rated it 4.4 out of 5! The newsreel-adapted mini-series highlights the evolution of sexual assault treatment over the past three decades. Its peculiarity: each of the 6 episodes is told from the point of view of one of the heroes, one of the first victims changed for life (Brilliant Alix Poisson which takes us through all the emotions), to the perpetrator himself (Jonathan Turnbull), to all those who tried to advance this investigation but were ignored. Unlike conventional news adaptations, Sambre It is intense and essential and leaves no one indifferent.

The ranking consists of series broadcast in 2023 on TF1, France 2, France 3, ARTE and M6 and OCS and counts a minimum rating of 250. Feel free to post your notes and reviews on the pages in this series (and others) and post your own top in the comments below!