Nora has hit hard times. She’s living in her car, doing her best to come off drugs and scrambling money together to get an apartment so she can resume custody of her young daughter.
Nora’s car is the centre of her world to meet her top priorities. She’s a ride-share driver by night, and we spend the five short episodes (between 15 and 20 minutes each) in the car with her over the course of one night.
Plenty goes down under the cover of 12 hours of darkness. The action kicks off when her brother Ben, also a night driver, gets into a bingle and she offers to make a delivery for him. When she is handed an envelope of cash, it’s too tempting not to accept more deliveries for even more money.
Golshifteh Farahani as Nora in ‘Surge’. Source: © Alex Pixelle / Canal+
Because it’s a short show, we’re loathe to say too much. It’s best to go in fresh, but we will say that it has a Run Lola Run vibe, and the fate of Nora and Ben will have you absolutely hooked.
The cinematographer Cyril Bron has a strong short film pedigree, which suits this format – each episode feels like a mini movie. So much happens in not much time, but nothing feels rushed, either. The suspense bubbles away and the sound design helps curb your heart-rate when it threatens to go too fast too soon. It’s brilliant.
Nora gets in deep, meeting Capuche for a delivery (Eddy Suiveng). Source: © Alex Pixelle / Canal+
Shot in a mere twenty nights, Surge shows a myriad of versions of Paris. By night, the City of Love looks by stages, peaceful and sparkly, squeaky clean and wealthy, grimy and menacing, racially charged and aggressive. We’re run all over the city and its outskirts, and the drizzly rain adds a sheen that is at once oily and cleansing.
Nora intermittently takes video calls from her ex-partner, and when we see her daughter and the pain their separation is causing them both, we understand her diving into a world more dangerous than she could’ve anticipated.
We see a different side of Paris in ‘Surge’. Source: © Alex Pixelle / Canal+
It’s a claustrophobic business, with so much of the drama taking place inside Nora’s car, so that when she drops the window down, we breathe in deeply to take in the much-needed hit of fresh air.
Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson, Body of Lies) as Nora is simply magnetic. She quickly gains our empathy, and we want the absolute best for her. She gains our respect too when we see the way she handles the variety of humans she drives around, such as the inevitable jerks who try it on from the back seat.
Lebanese actor Vincent Heneine (Mafiosa, The Odyssey) as Ben is also someone we rally around. The support the siblings show for each other is a beautiful thing.
Survet (Rachid Guellaz) advises the nervous Nora to “chill, homie”. Source: © Alex Pixelle / Canal+
This French drama is unusual: in its format, in its white actors being on the periphery rather than in starring roles, and in its presentation of its underworld via a brother and sister duo who are loving family people who took a wrong turn to follow a supply of desperately needed cash.
It’s an impressive and easily binged series you’ll thoroughly enjoy. It’ll also make you want to jump in your car and go for a good long night drive. Or alternatively, a daytime ocean swim.
Nora’s brother and fellow night-driver, Ben (Vincent Heneine). Source: © Alex Pixelle / Canal+
More to watch
SBS thriller ‘Safe Home’ coming May 11
