“Ten percent” season 4: what do strangers think of the series?

FRANCE 2

TV SERIES – While season 4 of “Dix pour cent” arrives this Wednesday, November 21 at 9:05 pm on France 2, the success of the series is spreading far beyond our borders. After two seasons hailed by critics and spectators in France, the series was subsequently exported to Netflix in order to reach a global audience.

Constantly flirting with self-derision and playing with the codes of French cinema, the series has fun starring many stars in their own role, including Muriel Robin, Sandrine Kiberlain or even José Garcia in this fourth and possibly be final season. These stars are however rarely known outside of France, which could potentially slow down foreign viewers, unable to grasp the full substance of the program.

To know the opinion of the foreign public, The HuffPost asked several viewers across the Atlantic about this series that they can see on Netflix since 2016. And opinions are almost unanimous.

Get off the Hollywood trails

Lorenzo Marquez is a blogger for “Tom + Lorenzo” in the United States, and it was by chance that he found the French series on Netflix: “I’m always looking for international series to watch. I think you broaden your horizons when you get off the Hollywood trail, he explains, I liked it from the start and was interested in whether or not the relationship between actors and agents was different in Europe or not. ”.

I just watched seasons 1 and 2 of “Ten Percent”. It’s so good that I can’t wait for season 3. I need to know what happens next! ”

As for Lorenzo, Meredith Melnick, editor for the American edition of the HuffPost stumbled upon the series via Netflix: “I got notified by Netflix and read a review of the New Yorker on the show, so my husband and I decided to give it a try. I really appreciated! It was funny and smart, ”she said.

For Jessica Hatch, a writer based in Florida, the current went immediately with the series. “I got caught up in the game and at the end of the pilot, I was hooked !, she rejoices. I come from the literary world and have spent time in agencies. So it was fun and interesting to watch a comedy in a French film agency ”.

The meeting with the French series is also quite original for Jessica. In anticipation of a trip to France, she consults an article on learning French which then lists several television shows as entertaining as they are fun. After having tried the Canal + program “Les RevENTS” it is on “Dix per cent” that she lingered then, a choice that she will not regret.

“I’m sure I missed some cultural references”

And if a few cultural references are missing to fully understand certain details of the series, it is anything but a barrier for them: “I may not know French stars as well as American actors, but it is not difficult to understand the humor and self-mockery of the series, ”confirms Jessica Hatch. “It helps provide a context in which even foreign viewers can understand the ‘type’ of actor the guest is portraying (the YouTube sensation shifting to serious cinema, the old actress dreaming of a big comeback, the couple who can’t stand working together) ”.

Same story with Lorenzo Marquez for whom the sarcastic and cynical French humor is lost in the translation but does not constitute a real obstacle to viewing: “I think the series does an excellent job of showing the relationship between agents and celebrities and how selfish it is. It’s also hilarious to see real actors laughing at their own experiences ”, explains the blogger.

Meredith Melnick is “sure she missed a few cultural references”, but for her “the themes of a very stressful office, family drama, personal ambition and artist vanity” remain universal. A strong point that the series will have to continue to cultivate to attract spectators outside of France.

Camille Cottin bursts the screen

Another point is that everyone agrees in “Ten percent”. This is the performance of Camille Cottin and her character of Andréa Martel. “I love complex and difficult female characters who excel at their jobs and spoil their privacy. And she is so elegant and has the best nose on television ”, explains the journalist of the HuffPost. An opinion shared by Jessica who “adores the character”, with which she explains to have identified herself directly.

Lorenzo also praises the actress revealed by the short program “La Connasse” on Canal +: “She is such a strong and complex character. She is a dynamic woman, who is not afraid to say what she thinks. I’ve always said that I don’t like anything other than watching strong female characters, played by actresses who fully understand and embrace the character. ”

A gateway to France and its cinema

Thanks to “Ten percent” Jessica Hatch is now familiar with names like Cécile de France or Joey Starr and this is perhaps the biggest advantage of “Ten percent”: allowing a new audience to discover French cinema. and his talents thanks to his visibility on Netflix, a perfect entry point according to Lorenzo: “It is the major asset of the exploration of foreign series. We present to you these amazing actors who are quite popular and talented in their country and whom you have never heard of. So the first thing you do is ‘Googling’ their names and looking for more information about their work. I was particularly impressed by Camille Cottin, Grégory Montel and Stéfi Celma whose work I had never seen before ”, he concludes.

The American audience of “Ten percent” will recognize an actress far from unknown in the cast of this fourth season in the person of Sigourney Weaver, the star of the “Alien” saga. The one who has been nominated three times at the Oscars and seven times at the Golden Globes has agreed to play without even reading the script, as she is a fan of the series, as she told AFP.

Proof of this worldwide success, the series must be adapted in four countries. “Ten Percent” will have a remake in China, England, Canada and Italy, as announced by its producer, the Mediawan group in April 2019.

See also on HuffPost: With “Ten percent”, Nicolas Maury learned to decipher his “real agent”