Beaches: Where was the new France 2 series filmed?

This Monday, January 6, France 2 starts broadcasting Rivages, an environmental thriller directed by Fleur Geffrier and Guillaume Labbé.

This six-episode mini-series, directed by David Houreg (Germinal), follows Abigail, an oceanographer sent on a mission to Fecamp to investigate the unexplained sinking of a trawler and the disappearance of its fishermen.

But as his research progresses, new mysterious phenomena occur at sea, then he realizes that these disasters can occur in an underwater existence that can upset the fragile balance between man and nature… and if there is no reason for the disturbance. Does it finally match anything known?

Where was the series filmed?

If Jonathan Rio, one of the authors of the series, imagined the story in Dieppe, the choice finally fell on Fécamp.

Director David Houreg explained at the press conference on this topic: When I arrived in Dieppe, I realized that I was looking for something more family and intimate. In Fecamp, these two rocks surrounded this small community. I had an obsession with: That every setting was located within a radius of a kilometer at most, to create a world that was very coherent and very tangible. And for that, Fécamp was the obvious choice“.

For two months, David Houreg’s cameras were in and around Fécamp to bring to life the story envisioned by Jonathan Rio and Monoca Rataz. But if the story takes place in Fekamp, ​​the underwater scenes are filmed elsewhere.

Corsica and Belgium for underwater scenes

For all the underwater scenes, a small team went to… Corsica.

“It was quite memorableFleur Geffrier explains before continuing, “We just got back from two months of filming in Fécamp and its hurricane. When we got to Corsica, the weather was perfect. It took a weight off our shoulders.“.

It must be said that the water of the English Channel is much darker than the water of the Mediterranean Sea. According to David Houreg, “You cannot see two meters under the canal. It is very opaque. When I saw that in Corsica you can see 20 meters underwater, I had the impression that I had a friendly sea.“.

If a large part of the underwater scenes were shot in Corsica, the other part was shot in Brussels and especially in Lite, the world’s largest underwater studio.

A necessity given the special effects that certain scenes require. Although David Houreg had long considered shooting them in the open sea, he finally changed his mind for safety reasons, but also for practical reasons.

“In the last episode we had sequences that involved heavy special effects and some pretty heavy electrical equipment. So we spent three days in the Lite studio. It was a military rhythm with long working days. We had to pay close attention to the health of the entire team, monitor decompression stops and oxygen levels. That didn’t stop Fleur from finishing with a little extra oxygen.“, says the director.

and added, “Lite Studio is an absolutely wonderful tool. It is incredible that we have this on European soil“.

Discover the first two episodes of Rivages from 21:10 on France 2.