Des Vivants on France 2: How much is this Bataclan attack series with Alix Poisson and Benjamin Lavergne?

There are directors who, as soon as they announce a new project, we know right away that we won’t be disappointed. And Jean-Xavier de Lestrade is one of them. The screenwriter and director, who cut his teeth in documentaries, has given us the most influential French series of recent years.

In 2019, he was behind Laetitia, a fascinating mini-series that recounted the murder of young Laëtitia Perrais. Four years later, he returned to the fore with Sambri, a fiction also adapted from a true story that tells the story of the hunt for the abuser of Sambri, a man who for 30 years assaulted countless women with complete impunity.

Less than two years after the airing of this series, named by AlloCiné users as the best fiction of 2023, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade decided to tackle a completely different topic with Des Vivants, a mini-series in 8 episodes that airs this Monday, November 3 on France 2.

When the fate of the seven Bataclan hostages inspires a TV series

This is November 13, 2015. After several hours of face-to-face with the terrorists in the narrow corridors of the Bataclan, eleven hostages, three women and eight men, were finally freed from their ordeal by the BIS.

Safe but deeply traumatized, they must now learn to live again. A few days after this tragedy, seven of them decide to meet again. Between the ages of 23 and 49 and with very different life paths, they are all trying to find meaning in their existence.

An unshakable bond will be born between them. Over the course of 10 years, from the Bataclan exit to the trial, Des Vivants follows the complete reconstruction of the “potages” (a contraction of “friends” and “hostages”), this group of friends.

An exciting and necessary series

Between the film November and the TV series The Spies of Terror, both of which hunt down the sponsors of the attacks, and The Faithful Friend, which followed Chris, the woman who made herself a victim of the Bataclan, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade is not the first director to focus on the November 13 attacks.

But for the first time, the narrative focuses on the side of the victims, and more precisely on the true story of these hostages, who had to face off against the terrorists for more than two hours.

For 8 episodes, viewers follow their slow reconstruction, their moods and their doubts. Through these seven characters with diverse profiles, the series shows us that each person has their own reaction to such a tragedy.

Some still remember this tragic evening and try to remember the smallest detail, while others try their best to move on and try to forget.

As already happened with Laetitia and Sambre, Jean-Xavier de Lestrades once again manages to offer us a charming and necessary series that, despite the difficult subject matter, never falls into the tearful and sensational.

Everything is said with precision and respect. It should be said that the scenarios of Des Vivants are based on the performances of seven real “soups”. Therefore, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and his co-author Antoine Lacombles tried to do them justice and transcribe their testimonies as fairly as possible. A challenge that they have successfully overcome.

This precision of tone is also possible thanks to the work of the actors who manage to bring these complex characters to life. Each actor does a good job, it’s a chore for a series.

After shooting it in Sambre, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade once again called upon Alix Poisson to play Marie, one of the soups. It’s no surprise that he subtly manages to transcribe all the emotions his character is going through, which is probably the most confusing of all the soups.

Next to her we can find Benjamin Lavernay as the impeccable Arno, her husband, also a hostage. Antoine Reinartz (120 BPM), Felix Moat (Le Grand Bain), Anne Stephens (The Playlist), Thomas Goldberg (The New Button War) and Cédric Eckhout round out this fine cast.

In short, Des Vivants promises to be a series not to be missed this November!

Catch the first two episodes of Des Vivants this Monday, November 3 from 9.10pm. on France 2. For those who are more impatient, the episodes are already available for preview on the france.tv platform.