This week's series: "The Agency," "Plaine orientale," "Legado," and "Sirens"

THE MORNING LIST

Between an American remake of The Bureau , a Spanish variation on the theme of Succession , a Corsican series in the style of Mafiosa and a series on the American bourgeoisie like those produced by Netflix at regular intervals, the weekly selection advances on familiar ground.

If you're watching The Agency in France, it's because you're a Canal+ subscriber. And if you're a Canal+ subscriber, chances are you've seen The Bureau (the opposite would be a waste of a subscription), of which The Agency is a remake. Everything has changed: the CIA's London office has replaced the DGSE's Mortier barracks; Malotru is called "Martien," has the features of Michael Fassbender, and is returning from Ethiopia rather than Syria; it's in a police station in Minsk (we're already in the middle of the Russo-Ukrainian war), and not in a police station in Algiers that a bureau agent disappeared. Nothing has changed: a budding spy (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) tries to leave for Iran under the pretext of geological research; During his residency, Martien fell in love with Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith), an intellectual as beautiful as she is wise, and hides from his superiors that he has found her. This feeling of visiting a familiar landscape in the company of strangers is the charm of The Agency , especially since the strangers in question have the faces of Richard Gere (who plays the director of the office), Jeffrey Wright or Katherine Waterston, who take over the roles played in The Office by Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Florence Loiret Caille. For those familiar with the Mortier barracks, the suspense is dulled, but not the tension or the fascination exerted by these professional liars who lose themselves in their legends. TS

You have 74.33% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.