Since its announcement in March 2023, the live-action project of the manga/animated ‘Signed Cat’s Eyes’ by TF1 has been blowing hot and cold. Hot, because the child of the 80s that sleeps in me is happy to see that the first channel of French television gives credit to a work which was once treated as Satanism (like other cartoons that have come from Japan at that time – thank you Ségolène Royal), not to mention that we also saw that Philippe Lacheau managed to make something of his Nicky Larson in the French way. But knowing that this is the team behind series like the ‘Combattantes’, ‘Bazar de la Charité’ and Bellefond, that clearly doesn’t make you dream. TF1 nevertheless wanted to reassure us by announcing that it had put on the table the tidy sum of 25 million euros to bring the Chamade sisters to life, the largest budget for a French series. But unfortunately, again, it was only perlimpinpin powder…
Broadcast in prime time on Monday November 11, 2024 through the first two episodes, the Cat’s Eyes series has already established itself as a big audience success. According to Médiamétrie, 4.56 million viewers watched episodes 1 and 2 of Cat’s Eyesor 24.5% of the public, allowing the mini-series to become the best start to a series on TF1 since HPI And achieves the best historical audience for a TF1 series on the 15-24 year old target highly coveted by advertisers. If these figures paint the business owners in suits in the wrong direction, what really happens to the return of spectators? With an average rating of 2.7 out of 5 on the Allociné site, the feedback is very divided and even tends towards rather negative opinions the further we go in time. For our part, we also followed the series in prime time on November 11, but we also took the time to step back and watch the first two episodes on Replay two days later. Also because my wife tends to talk a lot when we watch a film together, but for analysis purposes, in order to better understand how it is possible to miss the boat so much in certain elements of the series, notably the scenes of action and the feline side of the Chamade sisters that we never find again.
BOBO WESH
In fact, this Cat’s Eyes which takes place in Paris has its ass between two chairs, with on one side a very serious, very first-degree approach and on the other, a more zany, more offbeat attempt with precisely the characters of Elodie Fontan and Gilbert Melki. It is perhaps this approach that should have been taken for the whole series, instead of wanting to anchor it in an excess of French realism, bordering on Parisian, between bohemian atmosphere and unwelcome wesh-wesh overtones. . As much as the bohemian Parisian side is understandable, because the series was also designed for the international market, and having a postcard Paris is sales, but the confusion of the cities is absolutely embarrassing. The scene where Tam (played by the bubbly Camille Lou) is on the verge of being knocked down by Assaya who has become Quentin’s “girl” (this is the term used in the dialogue with the gravelly tone that goes with it) in the series clashes horribly with the idea we have of such a character. Because not only does it lack elegance, but it also completely distorts Assaya’s character. In the manga and the anime, she is a calm, cold character, who has doubts about the intentions of Quentin, whom she considers to be the Cat’s Eyes mole. It is therefore supposed to provide a more intellectual look at the somewhat nerdy character that is Quentin, something which is completely called into question here. We have no problem with wanting to detach ourselves from the original work, but there are still limits that should not be crossed…
In any case, the ‘showrunner’ Michel Catz had the green light from Tsukasa Hojo to reinterpret the story in his own way, with just the sole constraint that the story tells the adventures of three art thieves, with relationships of love and friendship, all punctuated by action and humor. In any case, given the barrier of language, of culture above all and therefore of the relationships that we can have with this or that situation depending on the customs of a country, Hojo-san will not be able to impact only the side ‘ djeuns’, a little ‘wesh-franchouillard’ at times, and which completely undermines the overall tone of the series. And then, let’s be honest, Tsukasa Hojo has reached an age where he has to accept the cowardice that we reinterpret his work, especially when it is so anchored in another culture. We’re not even sure that Japanese fans will even be aware of the existence of a series produced by France and TF1…
VERTIGO & YOUTUBE TUTORIAL
And it’s a shame because there are interesting things that are explored in this series, like the fact that it’s an Origin Story, that the relationships between Tam, Sylia and Alex are not good at the start. It’s actually a good idea, especially since the three actresses who were chosen were rather well cast. We personally have a weakness for Camille Lou since we discovered her in the film ‘Chasse Gardée’ where she plays alongside Didier Bourdon and who we find sparkling, but Constance Labbé and Claire Romain are doing pretty well. good too.
There is, however, a real big problem in having chosen the origin story of the Chamade sisters, the fact that they are not yet confirmed thieves and that their agility is not yet deployed, it is this absence of epicness to the screen, something that is terribly lacking in these first two episodes, supposed to make us want to continue watching. It’s long, it’s sluggish, there’s not much happening and it should have had a more catchy approach to reassure us about the direction taken by this TV series. We have read and seen dythirambic reviews which spoke of dizzying action scenes on Eiffel Land… Either these people are in forced promotion for the series, or we must stop drinking booze for breakfast. Because apart from climbing onto well-secured railings and doing a tightrope walk with a lot of hesitation, we in no way find our ‘three lively panthers, who in a flash can leap without a sound’a theme which is nevertheless hummed in the opening of the anime and of this same series. And yet that’s what we had to do as an intro to the series for the first episode, to kick things up a notch, to do a big crazy action scene on the same Eiffel Tower, even if it meant doing a flashback in the narration. Bad luck, as this is Tam’s first heist, who has never been a burglar, we find ourselves with a hesitant character, who climbs railings like my 6 year old son climbs a tree. We should have opened with a more epic sequence with a flight where the 3 sisters are already confirmed acrobats to inspire, to set the rhythm, to respect the original work.
“MORE BEAUTIFUL THE VOID”
It was said in an interview that it was the stuntwoman Chloé Henry who was responsible for the stunts for the character of Tam when we see her from behind, while the close-ups with Camille Lou are actually shot on a green screen, and unfortunately it shows. We can indeed see the difference in calibration between Camille Lou and the background decor. Nothing dramatic, Madame Michu and her friends who are used to watching Julie Lescaut will not make an impact, but it is dishonest to say that the action scenes are a real success, it is even clearly the big weak point of the series. The angles of view often lack breadth, we multiply the tight shots, I know that the production team was limited by time and what was imposed by the people in charge of the Eiffel Tower, but this is not is never dynamic and even less thrilling. Alexandre Laurent, the director, forced too much on the long shots which follow the characters from behind, it adds nothing and often, it harms the good rhythm of the episode. For example, when Tam pretends to jump from the Eiffel Tower by parachute, Quentin will try to catch up with her by coming down from the monument. The camera follows him all the way down, down the stairs and then into the elevator, extending a sequence that didn’t need to last this long. So much so that we find ourselves with grotesque situations, where the River Police have time to be called, to go to the scene of Tam’s drop-off point, while Quentin has still not gotten out of the elevator. . As for the shot where we see that the Arc de Triomphe is located two meters from the Eiffel Tower, I believe that even Tom Cruise did not take such a shortcut in Mission Impossible Fallout.
Same observation in episode 2 with the chase across the rooftops of Paris. Ok, it was really filmed by a team on the heights of the capital, there is a desire for truthfulness, for practicality in the way it is done, but it is never thrilling and even less epic. I’m not saying that it would have been necessary to call on Parkour specialists to shape such a sequence, because the Yamakazi-style action scenes in 2024 have become absolutely has-been, but there was a way to imagine a more intense chase anyway. Apart from Quentin who falls from the roofs with a crude connection, there is never any ambition, and I’m not even talking to you about the crappy rendering of these sequences filmed at night where we see absolutely nothing. Between the camera’s shutter defects and the hyper-noisy image, but also the absence of lighting in these nocturnal scenes, one wonders if there was a technician to ensure the correct implementation of this sequence. It’s ugly and yet 25 million euros were injected into this series. Lunar…
SOOOO LONG
No matter, everything is too long and too soft in these first two episodes and that is also the main fault of this series. We are still on a first episode lasting 59 minutes and a second of 55 minutes and looking closer, we could actually shorten each of the two episodes by a good 20 minutes. Everything is dragged out without adding anything relevant, it slows down the pace and I hope that the other 6 episodes, which also last 50 minutes, will provide consistency. In short, a lot of frustration with this series which is currently not up to par with the original material and it is all the more regrettable since we feel that the authors and the people who participated in the project had want to do something. Afterwards, the fault also lies with TF1 if they are not able to understand that a Cat’s Eyes series is also a fiction where aerobatics must be at the heart of the equation, and not just the shouting matches of disoriented sisters around of a café crème costing €12 in the Saint Germain des Prés district.
CONCLUSION: SHOULD WE KEEP WATCHING?
Complicated start for this French-style Cat’s Eyes signed TF1 and Amazon Prime Video. If we feel the desire to offer another vision of Tsuaka Hojo’s work with a origin story on the three Chamade sisters, we remain quite doubtful as to the proposed execution. It’s generally quite sluggish, not much happens in 2 hours of programming, and we have the impression that the feline and very acrobatic side of the manga and anime is largely absent. Of course, it is still too early to draw hasty conclusions, since there are still 6 episodes (50 minutes each) to discover and no doubt the three thieves will evolve, but for a start, it really lacks punch, action and real issues. Launching a series like Cat’s Eyes with thieves who are afraid of heights and have to consult YouTube tutorials to learn how to steal a safe is both daring and completely disconnected. We will closely follow the rest of the series, but we are already disconcerted…
OUR RATING: 3/10
