Black as Snow 4: Do you know the legend of the Devil of Bessan that inspired the TV movie with Laurent Guerra?

Black as Snow 4: Do you know the legend of the Devil of Bessan that inspired the TV movie with Laurent Guerra?

After the success of the three previous installments, which gathered an average of 5.3 million viewers on France 2, the series Noir comme neige returns this October 20 at 21:10. After Black as Snow (2021), Dead Top (2023) and Out of Limits (2024), here comes Devil’s Eye.

A strange statue

Captain Andreas Meyer narrowly escapes death while skiing after receiving a wooden statue of a red-eyed devil, a subject of Savoyard folklore. An inexplicable coincidence: on the French side, the same statue was found by Gendarme Constance Vivier near the body of wood merchant Victor Caron, who died mysteriously in an isolated chapel.

Sculptor Kate Carswell, the last local artist to create the famous devil sculptures, becomes the prime suspect, and evil forces attack Andreas and Constance… Together they will try to shed light on this dark case, which leads them to investigate increasingly strange incidents: cell phone explosions, pacemaker malfunctions, GPS malfunctions or manipulation?

The fourth adventure of Meyer and Vivier

We find Laurent Guerra in the role of the stern and cynical Andreas Mayer, in a register that was very different from the one the comedian was used to. He again forms a striking duo with Clementine Poidatz, aka police officer Constance Vivier. They are surrounded by Nicolas de Broglie (Nott), Nancy Tate (Kate), Mohamed Ketfi (Beddiar) and Margot Rybaniak-Winn (Violet).

Behind the camera, the director of the first three TV movies, Eric Vallet, leaves his place to Pierre-Louis Pingo, who was his first assistant in the previous episodes. The lush snow-covered natural setting is the Haute Maurienne, in the heart of Savoie, where The Devil’s Eye was filmed.

Two statues of the devil found by the police at the scene of the murder.

Two statues of the devil found by the police at the scene of the murder.

Legend of the Besan Devil

In the TV movie, the victims receive a wooden sculpture representing a devil with red eyes from Savoyard folklore. Does this legend really exist? Well yes!

In Besan in Savoy, the 4-horned creature became the emblem of the village. The devil of Besan has been in the imagination of the 350 inhabitants for a very long time. Its origin dates back to the legend, according to which, in 1857, a fight broke out between the village priest and his priest. In order to take revenge, the latter sculpted a figure of the devil holding the priest under his arm and placed it under the priest’s window. The next day, he in turn dropped it to the priest, who then brought it back to the priest. This little walk continued and became the basis of a local legend.

Sculpture As a four-century tradition in Besan, the devil is often represented and displayed there, intriguing visitors and travelers alike. But despite all this, Bessance is by no means a devilish place. Numerous statues are not a sign of a satanic cult, but only of the humor and creativity of the inhabitants. The Devil of Bessans is a rather evil demon who looks down on the village with benevolence.

Black as Snow: Eye of the Devil airs Monday, October 20 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2 and is now available on france.tv from 16 October.

Source: Allocine

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