Issued on DVD in France ( French language only, no subtitles of any kind ) during the year 2006, this is an excellent 12-hour family saga shot over several episodes on the South-Eastern coast of France at a place called "Le Lavandou" and its surroundings. Pierre Van Eck and his erstwhile wife Hélène, played by Mireille Darc, run a luxury riviera hotel called "La Réserve". During the series, a succession of love, lies, jealousy, deceit and murder keep the spectator riveted to his or her seat for most of the time. Most of the action takes place near to a famous hotel close to the beach. Mireille Darc, Pierre Vaneck, Amélie Pick, Alain Doutey and Josy Bernard are excellent. The story is far too long and intricate to resume here. I would be very curious to know if this has been shown anywhere outside France, perhaps under the title of "Burnt Hearts". During the series, Hélène ( Mireille Darc ) loses her sight in an accident. This is a pretext for a second series called "Les Yeux d'Hélène", also available currently on DVD but not in my opinion as good as the original series. The theme music is also noteworthy and relatively memorable. This series is something to put on TV on a series of rainy and cold winter afternoons and is very engrossing once you get into the body of the story !!
Review of Les coeurs brûlés
