A house opposite the M6: major differences from the original Dutch series

All good things come to an end. M6 aired the final two episodes of La Maison d’en Face on Tuesday night, on the back of its series of back-to-school events hosted by Julie de Bona, Thierry Neviwick, Caterina Murino, Marc Ruchmann and Antoine Duler.

And if the channel is waiting for audience results (including repeats) to decide on a possible 2nd season – after all, the finale closes in an unbearable suspense – a continuation is not at all impossible, since La Maison d’en face is the Dutch series Nieuwe Buren (literally ” New Neighbors”) in addition to the remake, which ran for four seasons from 2014 to 2019.

The starting point is the same in both series: the arrival of the couple – Eva and Yanis at La Maison d’en Face, and Eva and Peter at Nieuwe Buren – a suburban street where secrets are legion. And their meeting with neighbors across the street, with whom they will share everything very quickly. Including their partner during a swinger party, with serious consequences.

Recently at the La Rochelle TV Fiction Festival, where the M6 ​​series was previewed, director and screenwriter Lionel Baillieu (Innocente), who wrote La Maison d’en Face with Deborah Hadjedj, told us that he started out pretty loose. An adaptation that takes many liberties with the original Dutch format.

“The adaptation is quite free. First, because the first season of the original series consists of 10 episodes of 42 minutes, and we have 6 episodes of 52 minutes.”Lionel Bailleau trusted our microphone. “What is more diluted is actually the soap side, which is more present in the Dutch series. The thriller stands out much more with us, which was not our displeasure.”.

In short, it’s only a step from there to think that Nieuwe Buren is even closer to the spirit of Desperate Housewives and its soapy twists. But that’s clearly not the only difference between The House opposite and the series it’s adapted from.

Indeed, Lionel Baillie also explained that it was the writer’s wish that the characters cross over much more than in the original series. Therefore, he and his co-author imagined different frameworks or work situations that made it possible to bring Eva and Livia, Yanis and Stefanie even closer.

“As we got closer, we felt the need to change the characters so that they crossed paths more. We managed to have two girls working in the same place and the boys, who are both cops, as partners. We found that the police intrigue in the original series was a little bit out of place. was..

“And then, the ending didn’t satisfy us. There are some arguments in the ending that were quite specific to a culture that’s not ours. So we changed a lot.”Continued La Maison d’en face director and screenwriter.

It’s true that if the M6 ​​series ends on a huge cliffhanger (Iannis wakes up in the hospital after being shot and seems to have forgotten the past months and the death of his daughter), other aspects have changed in the Dutch series since then. In the Season 1 finale, a character who matches Livia (Caterina Murino) dies, and it’s Eva/Eva (Julie De Bona), who ends up in a coma and suffers from amnesia in Season 2.

But Lionel Bailliu assures us: the spirit of the original series is very much present in La Maison d’en Face, regardless of the choice of adaptation. “The spirit of this meeting between these two couples that leads to this swinger party, which we tried to do in the most beautiful way, without it being just a horrible thing, that’s what was so successful about the original series.” It was an inspiration, but we’ve strayed too far from it.”.

Find the full version of La Maison d’en face on Salto.