Serie - Colcoa french festival 2017 : Beautiful loser,a good french serie

By Mulder, Los Angeles, 27 april 2017

Premium cable broadcaster OCS hopes to change France’s troubled 26-minute sitcom format with Beautiful Loser, the first green-lit series to come out of the new television writing department at La Fémis. The story centers on Julien, a wisecracking professional slacker who, at 31, moves back in with his mother. The only time Julien shows any gumption at all is when he’s running from responsibility, so when his high school sweetheart Marie informs him that he is the father of her 14 year-old son Jacques, his first inclination is to split. But Julien, himself a perpetual teenager, soon finds that he has plenty in common with his offspring, from a love for videogames to a preoccupation with internet porn. The same can’t be said about Marie, who in Julien’s absence has become his opposite: serious, responsible, and deeply repressed. Written by showrunner Frédéric Rosset and his sister Camille Rosset.

"Beautiful Loser/ Irresponsable" is the perfect proverbial definition for French film creator Frédérick Rosset's new series. Starring Sébastien Chassagne (Julien) as a thirty something unemployed homeless marijuana enthusiast, Marie Kauffmann (Marie) as the long lost teenage romance of Julien, Théo Fernandez (Jacques) as a reckless youth, and Nathalie Cerda (Sylvie) as the loving doting mother of Julien. This is just a generalization of four vibrant characters who's interactions and reactions to one another are not only hysterical yet resonating. Common themes of life fill the show through every second.

The first four episodes that were pre-released for an screening at this years COLCOA in Hollywood, gave a great impression on how the show will hopefully continue. Julien is struggling with being an adult albeit not a highly functioning one. It begins with a perspective shot through the household following his mother as she enters his room and attempts to wake him by opening the curtains. This is the moment of reveal that the viewers discover Julien, in his adolescent almost prepubescent bedroom, is actually in his 30s and back home with his mother. As Julien eats his breakfast she nags him about his apartment which he tells her is under renovations for asbestos. They each leave to work and walk out the door, a few minutes later as Julien reemerges back into the comfort of home he lights up a joint and powers up his Dreamcast. Just as he is about to enjoy what seems like his everyday routine, mother dearest walks in. Queue the audience laugh and introduction titles.

From here "Beautiful Loser" only gets better as Julien's situation grows dimmer and darker. Julien then is forced by his mother to attend a public education job interview for an overseeing position of the students on school grounds. Arriving early Julien is told to wait outside where he sees a group of teenagers smoking and accidentally scares them off as he asks to partake in the session. Another main character, Jacques, is one of the students who turns back as Julien picks up the discarded marijuana joint and tells him not to waste it. Julien ask if the boy can find him a new weed connection as he has just returned back to his hometown. After a few more minutes together an actual school supervisors catches them and Jacques runs away as Julien attempts to play it off like he was holding the boys for a drug intervention. Julien is brought in for the interview but it doesn't really matter as the Principal tells him it was only a courtesy to his mother and he now has no chance for the job after being caught.

As he leaves the school Julien runs into Marie and has a nostalgic mini flash back of a younger Marie doing the classic hair flip. The flame is reignited, for him at least, and he immediately begs to take her out on a date. She begrudgingly agrees and Julien joyously and victoriously heads home. Being broke and jobless he hits rock bottom and ask for an advance of his "pocket money" from his mother which is essentially his allowance. Julien fiddles around in his room doing miscellaneous activities to occupy his time (takes two naps) and then wakes up realizing he is late. Rushing to the restaurant he lies to Marie about why he is living back at home and his occupational status.

Eventually Julien ask Marie why she left and what happened. Marie tells a tale that starts with her teenage pregnancy that causes her morally strict parents to take her away to raise the child elsewhere. Marie tells him her son is 15 years old and Julien remarks how that is right when she broke up and left him. She raises an eyebrow towards Julien wondering when the old dusty lightbulb in his mind will flicker on. Soon the realization hits and he downs both of theirs glasses of alcohol. He asks to see a photo of him only to discover his son is actually Jacques! Julien excuses himself from the table to smoke a cigarette and take a piss outside, he then furiously flees from the restaurant.

Julien's intense fear of finding out he is a father to a son he was earlier smoking pot with, coupled with having no job and living at home with his mother is terribly hard to watch yet amusingly hard to look away from. Handling all of his problems in the worst imaginable ways is the center of the shows comedy. The endeavour Julien is going through attempting to become an adult is uproarious as it is relatable. "Beautiful Loser" embodies sincere human moments having you empathize for Julien in one second and silently hoping he doesn't figure his life out in the next.

U.S. Premiere • TV Series • Comedy • France, 2017
Blu-ray • Color • Season 1 • 10 x 26 min • Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4
Creator & Showrunner: Frédéric Rosset
Directed by: Stephen Cafiero
Produced by: Antoine Szymalka (Tetra Media Fiction – La Pépinière)
Cast: Sébastien Chassagne (Julien), Marie Kauffmann (Marie), Théo Fernandez, (Jacques), Nathalie Cerda (Sylvie)
International Sales: 100% Distribution
Original Broadcast: OCS, June 2016