On August 30, 2004, France discovered a daily program that would revolutionize the country’s television scene: life is more beautiful. Broadcast at 8:20 p.m., just after the news, this soap opera imagined by Hubert Besson, portrays the daily life of the inhabitants of’a fictional neighborhood of Marseille, the Mistral.
Eighteen years on the air later, life is more beautiful leans. While France 3 broadcasts this Friday the last episode of this cult soap opera, a review of the history of this series that has become a true social phenomenon.
capricious beginnings
Chosen by the France Télévisions group – which has invested more than 23 million’euros in the project, to compete with the programs of opposite channels (game shows, reality shows, etc.), life is more beautiful, however, it initially struggled to find its audience. The verdict is final: the audiences of the first episodes are not good.
In particular, the rather repetitive plots, which are difficult to convince the viewers.
“vs’It was a chronicle of the daily life of’a neighborhood for which the intrigues were very sensible”, analyzes Muriel Mille, a teacher-researcher who attended the workshops on’series writing between 2007 and 2010 for his thesis Write for everyone, the writers of Plus belle la vie face their audience.
“For example, if’Was Roland going to ask for his loan? Will Rachel be placed in a nursing home? How is she going to do to François, who is over-indebted and has lost his job? ”, Details the sociologist and author of the comic. the series is more beautifulpublished in 2017.
Then, over several months, the production teams search for themes, characters, or locations that could breathe a fresh air into the show and increase its viewership. against’It is in this context that the Mistral police station and the’Marseille East Hospital.
“After that, the writers added a healthy dose of cop and’more dramatic plots. against’is what is allowed’raise audiences”, explains Renaud Lhardy, former director of digital at Telfrance, the producer of ‘life is more beautiful’.
First records of’audience
Coming to the series a year after the show’s launch, Renaud Lhardy was able to see the effectiveness of this narrative reversal. “Every Friday night, we open the champagne because’we broke a new record’public,” he recalls.
Galvanized by this success, the writers then introduce serial killers, drug dealers and other bloodthirsty madmen, who come to spice up the hitherto too quiet daily life of the inhabitants of the Mistral.
“The main source of inspiration for screenwriters, c’it was the press”, says Muriel Mille.
“They read the newspapers every day to detect the issues of’news. Etc’was often his follow up’news that’they selected the plots”, recalls the sociology professor.
episode after episode, life is more beautiful build an increasingly solid audience. On November 17, 2008, the show surpassed the six million viewers mark, a record for the time, and aired its thousandth episode that same year, becoming the first French series to reach this figure.
“You are part of the family”
This dazzling success allows the writers to further develop the characters, who become darker and more complex, but also to build new plots around strong social themes such as’homosexuality, the’alcoholism, disability, racism…
“‘life is more beautiful’ would be a good source for sociological work”, says Renaud Lhardy.
“vs’is the testimony of’evolution of the company for almost 20 years. All the issues that are discussed are very strong social issues. And often ‘life is more beautiful’ was a forerunner in’evocation of these themes”, he adds.
Addressing issues such as the same-sex marriage between Thomas (Laurent Kérusoré) and Gabriel (Joakim Latzko), filmed just before the enactment of the law in France, on May 17, 2013, life is more beautiful created a phenomenon’Identification with your viewers.
“In particular, we received many testimonials from young gay men who told us that the series had helped them to talk about their homosexuality with their families and to come out of the closet,” explains Renaud Lhardy, from the’time loaded with social networks life is more beautiful.
Associated with the success of the series, the actors of the program who initially did not’they were just illustrious outsiders’install in the daily life of the French. We stop them on the street, we ask them for photos, sometimes we even confuse their names with those of their characters.
“The same night that my first episode aired, we’recognized on the street and they m’called Barbara,” recalls Léa François, who has played Barbara Évenot since the series’ fifth season in 2009.
“vs’It’s a bit confusing at first because you don’t know them, but the viewers eat with you every night. we are told that’elsewhere often: ‘you are part of the family’continues the actress.
Departure of historical faces and decline of’audience
But in 2019, a new one comes to undermine life is more beautiful. L’actress Sara Mortensen, who played the role of Coralie Blain for 7 years, receives a phone call from the production. The actress, who had been premiered by the teams of life is more beautiful shoot in another series of France 2, Astrid and Raphael, it is simply appreciated. She will not return to Marseille.
“The production couldn’t handle my schedule anymore,” she explained on Instagram at the time.
This eviction does’effect’a time bomb within the cast of the series. The emblematic faces that are still present question his desire to continue his adventure in the program. And then the plots tend to hum over time and lack depth.
At the same time, as revealed the parisianproduction company Newen, whose subsidiary Telfrance produces life is more beautiful, was acquired by TF1. A blow for France Télévisions, which will also have to face a new ordeal in 2017: l’Competitor Series Arrival, tomorrow belongs to usbroadcast on the front page every night at 7:20 p.m.
but this is not’It’s not all. We also learn that France 2 is preparing to host a new fiction created internally, such a big sun. In the pipes for two years, this daily program, shot in Montpellier, has been broadcast since the beginning of the 2018 school year at 8:40 p.m. on the public channel. An ultrastrategic calendar. life is more beautiful moves to 8:20 pm, right on the’Television news hour.
But it is in 2020 when the coup de grace is delivered. While France is locked in lockdown, the production of life is more beautiful it has chosen, unlike TF1 and France 2, to continue broadcasting its soap opera. Result, by returning to normal, France 3 has exhausted its stock of new episodes.
Weather’such a big sun Y tomorrow belongs to us resume the broadcast of its new content, so the channel is forced to rebroadcast an old plot from 2015.
A feeling of warmth that is felt in the public. The Marseille soap opera, which gathered between 5.6 and 6.4 million viewers in its beginnings, n’interests of more than 2.3 million. Its worst audience since its launch in 2004.
“vs’It’s a series finale”
In February 2022, an article from figaro announces what fans of life is more beautiful the most feared: the program could end. And rightly so, the contract between the France Télévisions group and the production company Newen s’ends December 31, 2022.
If initially France Télévisions seeks to reassure fans about the’future of his cult telenovela, internally the audience failure makes one fear the worst. In May, the verdict falls: l’Stop life is more beautiful is officially confirmed by the public group.
A novelty difficult to digest both for the teams of the program and for its fans, who try through online requests or messages addressed directly to the production to save their favorite series. In vain.
Because this Friday, November 18 life is more beautiful it is retiring after 18 seasons and over 4,500 episodes. eighteen years of’story that s’will end with a final plot of 90 minutes and a final scene shot on September 29 with the actors Laurent Kérusoré, Elodie Varlet and Joakim Latzko, recounted in the documentary the great adventure plus belle la vie.
“For the first time in 18 years of filming, the first assistant director did not tell us ‘against’it’s the end of the day’ but ‘against’it’s a series finale'”, he confides with emotion’interpreter of Thomas, in the program that will be broadcast right after the last episode of life is more beautiful.
Source: BFM TV
