The first scene seems almost peaceful. “And we’re dancing in this world alone, world alone, we’re alone”, sings Lorde, while Sonia and Inès dance across the lawn, laugh and hold each other in their arms. Everything seems intact against the idyllic landscape of southern France. But like so much in the five-part Netflix series No sign of life and adaptation of the Harlan Coben novel “Gone For Good”, this is a farce, the disguise of something bigger – the final twist.
The American author is notorious for the twists and turns of his stories. Truths become lies that reveal the dark side of the supposedly good, while the innocent are suddenly guilty. That goes down well – with readers and viewers. That’s how it is in the original French No sign of life after the Polish series The grave in the forest, the British I keep silent for you and the Spanish film version No peace to the dead not Coben’s first collaboration with Netflix.
“I just know that we don’t necessarily know the people we love well.”
That also with No sign of life nothing is as it seems becomes clear at the latest during a dialogue between Guillaume (Finnegan Oldfield) and his friend and boss Daco: “Do you think you can be with someone for two years without knowing whether they are capable of murder ? ” “Someone” refers to Guillaume’s friend Judith (Nailia Harzoune). Because their sudden disappearance raises questions. Questions whose answers seem to lie in the murders of Guillaume’s former girlfriend Sonia and his brother Fred ten years ago. “I don’t know, I just know that we don’t necessarily know the people we love well,” replies Daco.
But the viewer gets to know them. The traumatized characters who No sign of life wear. Guillaume, who, after his loved one has disappeared, faces tormenting truths – the truth about the past, the truth about friends and family. Inès, Sonia’s little sister, who has been looking for her own identity since her death. Guillaume’s older brother Fred and his difficult relationship with father and law. Daco, the social worker with a dark past. Each of the five episodes is dedicated to one of the protagonists. Director Juan Carlos Medina takes his time to tell the story of the characters, but does not do so chronologically, but with the help of time leaps.
Issues such as poverty, drug use, prostitution
And not just because of the complex characters No sign of life more than just trials and tribulations. Poverty, drug use, prostitution, domestic violence, right-wing radicalism, the dangerous life in the banlieues of Nice: It’s about how ideologies and criminal machinations can divide a family.
Judith’s disappearance becomes an accessory, almost unimportant. The larger social problems of modern France, but also of the world, are overwhelming, however. Therein lies the strength, but also the weakness of the thriller series. In the end, the context of the individual stories opens up, but much seems to lie, some to remain unanswered.
No sign of life fluctuates between clear motifs and opaque storylines, simple deeds and complex characters. But with French charm.
No sign of life, 5 episodes, on Netflix