Riviera

[Carrie Fairchild]

Has anyone watched this on Sky Atlantic yet? Julia Stiles plays an American art dealer whose billionaire husband is killed in a yacht explosion in the south of France and she is left to deal with the secrets that begin to unravel in the wake of his death.

I read that they were originally aiming for it to be a dark, Night Manager-esque thriller but it turned into something altogether more soapy. Neil Jordan, who co-created it, came out & basically disowned it because he was unhappy with changes in dialogue and the addition of sex scenes (which is surprising considering he was responsible for The Borgias). He also took exception with it being compared to Dynasty (Adrian Lester, who stars in it, described it as "Dynasty-sur-Mer")

I've yet to indulge in it but was surprised to see it hadn't been discussed here yet, given it's soapy credentials, so I thought I'd put it out there to see what others thought of it before I dived in.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

It only took two years but I've finally delved into the world of Riviera after seeing that it's second season was due to premiere. Has anyone else given it a look? It's part Dynasty, part Bare Essence, part Harold Robbins' The Survivors, part Revenge. After the death of her husband in a yacht explosion, Julia Stiles' Georgina decides to stay in France with her stepfamily rather than taking the loot and leaving (the Bare Essence bit). Said Dynasty-esque stepfamily comprises of Christos (the Fallon character) who dislikes his stepmother and wants her gone, Adam (part Steven / part Adam Carrington) who is close to Georgina but also has secrets and the emotionally fragile Adrianna (part Emma Channing / part Steven) who is closest to her stepmother. Their mother Irina (the Alexis character) is the shady ex-wife who dislikes the new wife who displaced her and who has connections with dodgy businessmen in the area. Georgina is essentially the "Krystle" character in all of this, albeit a slightly heightened version (we never saw Krystle injecting one of her stepchildren with heroin, did we?). Add to all of this a Revenge style plot involving priceless artwork and international business plus Russian oligarchs, casinos, palatial villas, expensive cars, clothes and yachts and beautiful Riviera scenery and you should have the makings of a delicious soap.

Alas, it all falls a bit flat. There's a bit of miscasting to blame for one. I just have no empathy for Julia Stiles character. Additionally, Iwan Rheon feels out of place as does Phil Davis' cop character. The writing is all over the place too, particularly for Georgina but additionally for the rest of the characters. I spent a lot of time wondering what their motivations were for most of their actions. They make little sense a lot of the time. I'm probably expecting a bit too much from what is essentially a primetime soap but the loose plotting feels like something from a show in it's declining years rather than a tightly written first year of a new show. Granted, there were problems before it aired but I'd be interested to read exactly what Neil Jordan had planned for it before he jumped ship and disowned the show.

 

[Angela Channing]

I watched the first season last year and wasn't overly impressed. It seemed liked an average prime-time soap masquerading as a big budget dramatic mini-series. I completely agree with your comment about having "no empathy for Julia Stiles character", I think she was wrong for the part. I stuck with it to the bitter end hoping it would get better but there was no real intrigue or mystery and overall it was little better than a lavish afternoon soap.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I watched the first season last year and wasn't overly impressed. It seemed liked an average prime-time soap masquerading as a big budget dramatic mini-series. I completely agree with your comment about having "no empathy for Julia Stiles character", I think she was wrong for the part. I stuck with it to the bitter end hoping it would get better but there was no real intrigue or mystery and overall it was little better than a lavish afternoon soap.

I was the same. As it was only ten episodes, I figured I'd gone so far with it that I may as well see it out until the end. Lena Olin was the highlight for me. She captured that kind of sleazy glamour that I associate with the South of France. However there was little else to entertain. It's obviously doing good numbers for Sky though as they've apparently commissioned a third series.