Syndrome E on TF1: Series Production Secrets with Vincent Elbaz

AlloCiné: After La Promise, did the offer to direct Syndrome E come quickly? And what attracted you to this unique thriller project?

Laura De Butler (Director): The proposal came shortly before La Promise aired in December 2020. I had just finished post-production on the series and it was Anne Viau, the fiction director at TF1, who put my name forward to the producers. Sophie Revill and Dennis Caro.

Dennis, I already knew him because I worked on projects with him in his former career as an assistant director. I also worked with Matthew Misoff, the creator and screenwriter of Syndrome E, so it was a relief to go on this adventure with them.

I immediately fell in love with Syndrome E because it allowed me to stay in the whodunnit and thriller genre that I love. And at the same time there was this little fun where we set the genre slider a little bit. and a sense of amplitude. Something a little big was going on in this scenario. It’s a story that goes beyond a small neighborhood survey (laughs). So there was quite a new dimension that I enjoyed.

What was the main challenge for you as a director in this series?

The difficulty was really in dosing gender. It was necessary to flirt with the fantastic, while staying in reality and not exactly falling into the fantasy. Since ultimately everything that happens is real, everything is scientific, concrete and supported by real elements. So we had to have fun without much fuss.

With the limitation that you can’t go too far into the genre and a channel like TF1 as a bonus?

Yes, of course. We talked a lot about this with Ann Viua. This is a chain that I know well, I know their limits. After that, we always want to set the sliders. But I didn’t want to enter Gori for Gori. There was a time when it was necessary as it is, quite extreme. But this is a kit.

I wanted to turn this series into a fairy tale. I worked a lot on that aspect, the music, the editing. I really wanted to take the audience into a fictional world. And I told him “we’re going to tell you a story, it’s going to be a little crazy, it’s going to be great, but it’s a real story, come on.” It’s a bit like Disney, with big monsters, big bad guys, but that’s okay.

What was your influence, your inspiration? We think of the ring during the sequences that feature this quirky 60s movie that causes extreme reactions from those who watch it…

It’s funny, they talk to me a lot about the ring, but I’ve never seen this movie (laughs). However, I clearly know what it is talking about and how it sounds. In fact, to define the visual world, I work with a lot of references, be it movies, series, paintings or just an image that defines a colorimeter, a color palette.

And then the actual artistic vision is done by how I look at the script rather than the instructions. The staging really comes from the script and the way I look at this story.

What exactly was it like working with Mathieu Misoff, the screenwriter who created the series from the novel by Frank Tillis?

We both spent a lot of time on the script, especially during the casting phases. As soon as I had questions, I talked to him. Often associated with stories of rhythm, I felt that sometimes things needed to be tightened or stretched. And then we talked a lot about heroes. And after we had our actors, we re-read the reading to refine the dialogues. It was already a very collaborative piece of writing.

And then it just kept going all the way. We did scouting together. We quickly agreed on sets. Everything was really done by mutual agreement.

Franck Tilleys, the author of the Charcot and Hannebel-centric novels, was he heavily involved in the series?

At first, Frank tried to adapt the E syndrome to the screen himself, and very quickly realized that he needed someone from the outside. This is where Sophie Reville proposed to Matthew Misoff, who came full circle. I know there was quite a bit of ping pong going on between Frank and Mathieu. But very soon Frank trusted Mathieu.

And Matthew still needed to appropriate the novel, to choose very specific axes. This is a free adaptation, there was a choice to make. There were a number of constraints that made it necessary to think of the book as a series. All this work is Matthias who did it, but Frank kept it all pretty simple.

After that, Frank went on the set. I never saw him during the preparation, actually I met him on the set for the first time. He came at the end of the first week of filming, especially to meet our Charcot and Hannebel, Vincent Elbaz and Jennifer Decker. And he followed our proposal very respectfully. He is very happy with the result. He is very proud of the series, which we were excited about.

The success of the series is due to its actors. Was Vincent Elbaz in Charcot immediately obvious?

When I arrived at the project, Vincent was already there, he had already been selected. But then the main reason for the war was to find the perfect Lucy Hannebel. Jennifer Decker was quick to convince everyone, she did some really great tests. I think someone with that toughness was needed. Jennifer has a real precision, she is an extremely technical actress. And at the same time it has this little grain of madness, this poetry, which was necessary to balance the darkness of Hennebel’s character.

Once we had a duet, we would build around it, either with firm suggestions or casting. It depended a bit on the roles, but it was a long-term job. We wanted something new in this series. Gather people from different worlds and go a little outside the box. I hate boxes.

Is there a scene you remember that was more difficult to shoot than others?

There are days that are harder than others, quite specifically and practically, because we have a lot of sets, a lot of travel. These are somewhat stressful days when you meet because you know you have to travel a lot. And it’s working time that we actually have less of. We know we have to go fast, but good.

Then there’s a scene I’m thinking of in episode 6 with the kids, but we can’t talk too much about that without spoilers. There were several such dangerous scenes. But there were problems throughout the series. Emotional and narrative encounters not to be missed.

We know after the presentation of E Syndrome at Series Mania that there is a desire on the part of TF1 to make a 2nd season, if successful to adapt another novel by Frank Tillis. Does this mean you would return to directing?

I do not know. I don’t read maps (laughs). This is a team I loved working with. But I also need to go somewhere else, try my hand at another adventure. Then everything depends on when, how. But in general, in my work I don’t like to rest on my laurels. I have a passion for challenges, novelty. You will see.

Do you want to get out of the thriller and go to other worlds?

Maybe even. Again, I wish we didn’t put them in boxes. I’m just starting out, I started as a thriller director, I’ve done projects that I’m very proud of. I’m passionate about thrillers, anything about society. But I sure don’t want to do that in my life. I want to try other genres, see if I can have fun elsewhere and if I can be more or less correct elsewhere (laughs).