On Monday, September 26, 2022, TF1 continues to broadcast Les Combattantes, its new historical mini-series. In the cast of this prestigious fiction, viewers find Audrey Fleuro, Camille Lou, Julie de Bona and Sofia Esaid playing the characters.
The story tells about the fates of four women who crossed paths in September 1914, during the First World War. Not far from the front and its bloody battles, these heroes have to solve personal problems while participating in the fight against the Germans.
With a budget of 20 million euros, the project is divided into eight episodes (two evening parts are offered) and requires colossal human resources. Concerned with details, the fighting teams worked hard to offer the public a great show, be it in terms of costumes or sets, for example.
Moreover, if the action takes place in a small village in the east of France, where is the fiction actually set? It was between the Vosges, Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France that Les Combattantes was boxed.
First of all, the exteriors were mostly taken in Les Vosges. Hervé Gallet, production designer, commented on this choice in the TF1 press kit: “This region offers magnificent nature with diverse vegetation, small mountains, terrain and lakes.“
“The cities are also beautiful because in 1900 the SNCF took the rich population to the seaside resorts, which became rich. There are still very beautiful buildings from that time. In addition, this area was actually in the line of fire during the First World War.”
Hervé Gallet adds: “At Senon and Plombier-les-Bains we shot outside the convent hospital, the gendarmerie and the village. I put 90 tons of soil to hide the macadam! (…) On a period film, street furniture, very relevant, constantly pollutes the image. We have to hide doorbells, mailboxes, parking lines…”
“On the Place de Senones stood a monument to the dead more than 7 meters high, masked by an 8 meter watchtower. Continue with the decorator. (…) And if the digital effects in post-production erase the elements you can’t touch, I try to hide as much as possible during shooting.“
As for the monastery-hospital in the series, it is… in two different places! As Hervé Gale explains:In Hauts-de-France we shot the interior of a convent/hospital. We settled in the Abbey of Valois (Somme, editor’s note) and the Charter of Neville (Pas-de-Calais, editor’s note) (…).“
In La Voix du Nord, director Alexandre Laurent said:We couldn’t find an existing abbey or monastery that combined everything we were looking for. That’s why we chose two places that had the merit of being twenty kilometers apart.So the cloister and quarters for the soldiers are at Valois, and the chapel and dormitory are at Chartreuse.
Finally, the brothel joined by Marguerite, the character of Audrey Fleurot, took place 40 kilometers from Paris, in the village of Crevecoeur-en-Bry, in a palace on the throne. Everything else was recreated in the studio. Titan work!
Source: allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
