A great crime noir series needs a flawed central character, and they don’t get any more flawed – but nonetheless sympathetic – than the titular character in the French-language thriller Rebecca.
Anne Marivin plays Rebecca Lacoste, a Parisian police detective on a long leave of absence, struggling with depression and a drinking problem. She has a teenage daughter Emma (Artemisia Toussaint) who hates her and a distant husband, Julien (Benjamin Biolay), who’s just announced he wants a divorce.
In addition, Rebecca suffered a major trauma many years ago, which has led to her experiencing violent rages, followed by blackouts. When she wakes up she can’t remember what she’s done.
In the opening scene of the series, viewers meet the troubled ex-cop when she awakes one night in her car, parked near an underpass during a raging storm. She has no recollection of how she got there, but the blood on one of her hands indicates that something terrible has occurred.
Benjamin Biolay as Julien with Anne Marivin as Rebecca. Source: Elephant/Raphaël Buisson
Viewers are then taken back four days to the moment when Rebecca is informed that a serial killer she was hunting while on the force has resurfaced after six years of inactivity.
The bodies of two young women have been recently found and the modus operandi for their deaths is eerily similar to the previous five murders: suffocation by plastic bag, with a trophy, usually jewellery, removed from each victim.
The news sparks Rebecca’s desire to return to the force and find the killer. Her fixation on middle-aged Pierre Collange (Patrick Timsit), the prime suspect during the previous investigation, immediately puts her at odds with new boss Captain Rafik Abderrafi (Samir Guesmi), who thinks she’s barking up the wrong tree.
A fiery day at the office for Rebecca (Anne Marivin). Source: Elephant/Raphaël Buisson
He informs her that Collange is in jail for the manslaughter of his wife, so he couldn’t be responsible for the most recent murders.
“Manslaughter?” she muses. “So he did kill.”
“Yes, but not these two women,” Abderrafi replies dismissively.
However, when Rebecca learns Collange is on day release from prison and holds down a job in a bakery, she becomes convinced he has found a way to avoid detection and return to his serial killing ways.
The obsessed cop begins spying on Collange where she observes that he’s developed a relationship with a journalist, Lucille Douvet (Ophélia Kolb), who meets with him regularly near the bakery while researching her latest book.
Meanwhile, the serial killer’s murder spree continues, putting extra pressure on the police to crack the case.
At home, emotions boil over for Rebecca when she learns that Julien – who is employed as a lawyer for a food company – is having an affair with one of his work colleagues, Laëtitia Baumann (Pauline Cheviller).
Samir Guesmi as Captain Rafik Abderrafi. Source: Ruby Wax
Things take a disturbing turn when Laëtitia vanishes from her home, soon after a visit from an angry Rebecca … just before another of her blackouts. This leads viewers back to the moment we first saw the distressed detective at the beginning of the series.
Did she have something to do with the disappearance of her husband’s mistress? And could Rebecca’s violent behaviour be more connected to the serial murders than initially thought?
What exactly does she get up to when she blacks out?
Rebecca is a gritty, gory reimagining of the hugely popular British thriller Marcella, which starred Anna Friel and ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2021.
Marivin says she took on the role because she was drawn to the main character’s courage and tenacity.
“She’s also a character who has little morality,” the 48-year-old actress explains to . “She’s not the best mother and neither is she a good wife. However, we find ourselves asking what one would do in her place.”
Rebecca in dire straits. Source: Elephant
She isn’t afraid to explore Rebecca’s challenging character traits: emotionally detached from her two children, needy with scumbag Julien and stubbornly pigheaded at work.
The fact that Marivin manages to make her character vulnerable and sympathetic at the same time is a testament to her acting skills.
Director Didier Le Pêcheur assures those who’ve already watched Marcella that they shouldn’t worry about Rebecca being a carbon copy. He made wholesale changes to the scripts, including condensing the first two seasons of Marcella into one, removing some scenes and adding new ones.
“Weather, unexpected events and even budget also automatically bring major changes to the atmosphere and characters,” he tells Drama Quarterly. “I let or made all these changes happen, so this series is now mine, in every detail.”
Marivin says she didn’t speak to Friel to get her thoughts on Rebecca/Marcella so as not to influence how she handled the role, although she felt Rebecca was more anchored and less unhinged than Marcella. However, she’d love to hear what the British actress thinks of the remake.
Captain Rafik Abderrafi (Samir Guesmi) with the coroner (Flora Dijen). Source: Elephant
Despite its many differences, Friel would probably find Rebecca as gripping and complex as the thriller that inspired it.
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