For over a decade, Manuel Ortega (David Kammenos) has lived a near-perfect life in Paris: his career as a writer has brought him fame and fortune, while his marriage to Aymeric (Alexis Loret) has been a seemingly perfect one. Then Manuel is woken by the police with the news that his partner is dead, killed in a car crash in the French countryside. Which makes no sense at all, because he was meant to be on a business trip in Brussels, hundreds of kilometres away.
Aymeric, it turns out, was a man of many secrets. The biggest being that he was actually Aymeric Fabre de Castelmore, the son of a wealthy marquis who had covertly inherited his family’ impressive estate and businesses. The reason why he kept this a secret isn’t hard to figure out: his family is a collection of snobs and monsters, people so homophobic Aymeric never let them know he was gay, let alone that he was married. He knew they would never accept his husband and rather than have Ortega endure their bile, he edited them (and his estate) out of his life.
One of the more satisfying moments in this series comes early, when – having endured their almost comedically over-the-top distain for Ortega – the reading of the will reveals that the rest of the family have been kicked to the curb and Ortega gets everything, including the family’s Provençal wine estate. It’s not so much a slap in the face to the rest of the family as it is a kick to the groin, especially to Aymeric’s chilly mother (Nicole Calfan) and younger brother Joffrey (Aurelien Wiik), who was all set to move into the top job until Ortega arrived on the scene.
Their reaction – and just who they are in general – is more than enough to convince Ortega that he wants nothing to do with them or the (extremely impressive) estate. But Aymeric was no fool, and he saw this coming: Ortega has to spend three months in charge before he can get rid of his inheritance.
So we have a wealthy estate, a powerful family that’s driven almost entirely by plotting and scheming, and a mysterious (to them) stranger who threatens to overturn everything. It’s a story that walks a fine line between Shakespearean drama and classic soap opera; All This I Will Give to You (based on the best-selling novel by Dolores Redondo) confidently makes it work on both levels.
David Kammenos as Manuel Ortigosa in All This I Will Give To You S1. Credit: François LEFEBVRE/© François LEFEBVRE - FTV - INCOGNITA
More importantly, Joffrey and his mother are so relentlessly and ruthlessly evil that even the slightest chance of seeing them get their richly deserved comeuppance is more than enough to make this must-see viewing. Did she name him Joffrey because she wanted him to grow up to be spoilt and evil? You wouldn’t put it past her.
And just in case you were inclined to forgive them for being upset at being left out of the will, it turns out that not everyone believes Aymeric’s death was an accident. Actually, a lot of people don’t believe that, but his family is so powerful they had any investigation into his death shut down, much to the annoyance of the town coroner (Sophie Cattani) and grumpy detective Richard Saugier (Bruno Solo).
He’d like to solve one last big case before he retires, so he’s running an (extremely illegal) private investigation based on what little evidence was uncovered before the case was forcibly closed. He’s been going it alone, but now there’s one other person in town who wants to uncover the truth: Manuel Ortega. And with the revelation that Aymeric had a younger brother who also died in mysterious circumstances, the picture starts to get a lot more complicated.
As the investigation continues, Ortega is confronted with more and more hidden sides to the man he loves. Aymeric might have kept his family hidden out of love, but their scheming blood still flowed through his veins. Was his death a grab for power from inside his family? Was it revenge for a something he did years earlier? And if it was murder, has the killer finished their lethal work, or have they only just begun?
All This I Will Give To You is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
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All This I Will Give to You
