French series of eight episodes by Juliette Soubrier (The red wristbands) and Olivier Dujols (The office of legends), Totems takes place in 1965, when France, following the example of the Russians and the Americans, is preparing to conquer space. However, as in any good novel by John le Carré camped in the middle of the Cold War, things are not so simple. In fact, the Russians intend to take advantage of the opportunity to foment a space program which could prove to be explosive.
In addition to a fault committed by his father, which brings a stain to his file, Francis Mareuil (Niels Schneider, monolithic), a French scientist who has been passionate about the stars since his early childhood, leads an uneventful existence with his wife Anne (Ana Girardot) and their son, Paul (Jules Dhios Francisco). Reluctantly, Francis is recruited as a spy by his godfather, Charles Contignet (Lambert Wilson, phlegmatic).
Parachuted into Berlin, the young man soon takes a liking to his new status as a spy in the pay of the French secret services and the CIA. Especially since he meets the sad gaze of Lyudmila Goloubeva (Vera Kolesnikova, enigmatic), a virtuoso pianist forced to work for the KGB in order to watch over her father, the scientist Boris Goloubev (Aleksei Guskov). Born to a French mother, Lyudmila dreams of moving to the West. Under the suspicious gaze of Virgil (José Garcia, energetic), a spy more vulnerable than he seems, a relationship develops between the Frenchman and the Russian.
Is West
Directed by Frédéric Jardin, Antoine Blossier and Jérôme Salle, Totems immediately seduces with its sober and credible period reconstruction, its cold palette of colors dominated by metallic blues and grays, and its atmosphere that is by turns hushed and anxiety-provoking. Effectively playing with the codes of spy cinema, the series is closer to The lives of othersFlorian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spyof Thomas Alfredson, than of James Bond.
Lacking mind-blowing gadgets and having had no training to make them supermen, the spies of Totems are more often busy deciphering secret documents, listening to telephone conversations or pretending to be allies than running in the field. And when they do, you can feel the fear gripping them. However human they may be, after the three episodes unveiled to the press, none of the spies, except Virgil, whose heavy past arouses curiosity, and no other character, with the exception of the Russian scientist completely overwhelmed by the events, does not turn out to be endearing.
To make matters worse, the love story, which dangerously takes precedence over the main plot, seems too artificial and sudden for anyone to be interested in. It must be said that the chemistry operates little between Niels Schneider and Vera Kolesnikova. On the Soviet side, we are not far from the clichés encountered in American cinema. All display a sinister look and seem ready to torture anyone coming from the other side of the Iron Curtain. Faced with this warlike conquest of space, where all shots are allowed, one cannot help but establish links with the current situation in Russia, Putin’s Soviet nostalgia and the threat of a third world war.
Female condition
Alongside the activities of Francis Mareuil, which will take him notably to Algeria — the ambitious series does not skimp on the means to hold the spectator captive —, Totems focuses on the fate of Anne, his wife who knows nothing about her new reality. Living in Paris, Anne must help a young woman to have an abortion. Remember that at that time, a few years before what Françoise Giroud called the “enchanted interlude”, the contraceptive pill was not authorized and abortion was illegal. Like any good housewife managing the family budget, Anne does not even have the right to withdraw a few francs from the bank without her husband’s signature.
Behind its appearances of domestic intrigue, Anne’s story underlines the gap between this supposedly revolutionary era and a reactionary reality. As mysterious men pretending to be friends arrive at a time when Anne and her protege are in danger, we guess that the intrigues of Totems will become more complex. And that Anne could turn out to be a more convincing heroine than Lyudmila.