I did not have much expectation of this mini-series, but it turns out to be absolutely first-rate. Its total length is not much more than that of a 2-hour theatrical release. _Thanksgiving_ may lack the traditional 3-act structure, but makes up for it with its extraordinary performances, good writing, and far-above-average camera work.
The three episodes are titled "Vincent," "Louise," and "Masks" -- basically him, her, and them. Vincent (Gregoire Colin) is the co-founder of a software company in danger of losing his flagship product to Korean hackers. His American wife of 10+ years Louise (Evelyne Brochu) runs a real-estate firm for newcomers to Paris, and she secretly works for the CIA. Brochu is perhaps best know for her supporting role in "Orphan Black"; in this lead role she is nothing short of a revelation, seemingly able to express 10 different emotions on her face at any one time. She should be recognize as one of the great French-Canadian actresses, and reminds me of Marie-Josee Croze and Caroline Dhavernas who also excel in deeply compromised heroine roles. Colin is also good, and Stephen Rea, as Louise's CIA handler, perhaps gives his best performance in years. His spymaster acts like a sweetheart who can talk you into anything, yet he also leaves you no doubt he can pounce with deadly intent. The director deserves praise here, isolating the conflicted, complicit, and perhaps corrupt characters in the frame and giving them all the time they need to register the layers of deception they wear as masks. The mini-series effortlessly works as an allegory of U. S.-French relation. The French Vincent drinks too much and only looks out for financial gain; the American Louise doesn't drink at all, and in her misplaced idealism she gets ever more deeply entangled in her "national security" spider-web.
The camera work is excellent, with many evocative lap dissolves that you have to see for yourself. There is a particularly beautiful scene in the woods between husband and wife. There is no gun-play and only one death, but the moral rot that it reveals is truly devastating. Romantic music may swell at the very end, but it reverberates in an empty hall-of-mirror completely devoid of human decency and truth.
The three episodes are titled "Vincent," "Louise," and "Masks" -- basically him, her, and them. Vincent (Gregoire Colin) is the co-founder of a software company in danger of losing his flagship product to Korean hackers. His American wife of 10+ years Louise (Evelyne Brochu) runs a real-estate firm for newcomers to Paris, and she secretly works for the CIA. Brochu is perhaps best know for her supporting role in "Orphan Black"; in this lead role she is nothing short of a revelation, seemingly able to express 10 different emotions on her face at any one time. She should be recognize as one of the great French-Canadian actresses, and reminds me of Marie-Josee Croze and Caroline Dhavernas who also excel in deeply compromised heroine roles. Colin is also good, and Stephen Rea, as Louise's CIA handler, perhaps gives his best performance in years. His spymaster acts like a sweetheart who can talk you into anything, yet he also leaves you no doubt he can pounce with deadly intent. The director deserves praise here, isolating the conflicted, complicit, and perhaps corrupt characters in the frame and giving them all the time they need to register the layers of deception they wear as masks. The mini-series effortlessly works as an allegory of U. S.-French relation. The French Vincent drinks too much and only looks out for financial gain; the American Louise doesn't drink at all, and in her misplaced idealism she gets ever more deeply entangled in her "national security" spider-web.
The camera work is excellent, with many evocative lap dissolves that you have to see for yourself. There is a particularly beautiful scene in the woods between husband and wife. There is no gun-play and only one death, but the moral rot that it reveals is truly devastating. Romantic music may swell at the very end, but it reverberates in an empty hall-of-mirror completely devoid of human decency and truth.
