Le sanglot des anges (TV Mini-Series 2008)

If you want all the possible clichés and more about "Art, Italians, and bad policiers", then look no further.

Some actors are plain awful, like (the list is not exhaustive) Mélanie Maudran (Diane the she devil), Marianne Basler (Sophie, the in house ex lover), Charlotte Becquin (Lucia, the umbearable larmoyant daughter, who is supposed to be a dancer)(all 3 extremely beautiful, thou), Caroline Casadesus (the famous "Esther"), Bruno Madinier (the copper), Marthe Keller (the wife who wants a new life) and yes, "Ruggero Raimondi" (the main character). Cyril Lecomte as the gay son "Enzo" is decent, same goes for his brother Malcolm Conrath portraying "Angelo". The pivotal baddie François Marthouret "François Dubreuil" (Carlo's "Salieri"). Samuel Labarthe as "Adrien" too. The plot is what sucks here, making all efforts for saving this TV series futile. The scenery is stunning (Art and riches are always nice, specially if together :)), the music is fine... the rest is awful.

I'll spare the details to the reader. Just a sample: "art is about love, not about technique", "mothers are always present" (an Italian spoke, capisci?), "". The only decent character is Ludmila Mikaël's L' Impresario (Marlène), who composes a interesting woman sternly efficient but without a sexual interest in Carlo (unlike most other characters), but a human being after all. An in a fun, simplified "buffa" way, Elisabeth Margoni as the Italian emphatic maid.

In a nutshell... I wanted each episode to end after half an hour. The only thing that kept me going was having a laugh at the unexpected goof or cliché. Enjoy with care :).