Acorn TV's 'Cannes Confidential' is a Festival of Fun

Acorn TV’s glossy new production, Cannes Confidential, arrives billed as having “unprecedented access to the city” and “the first English language show filmed in the Cote d’Azur since the 1970s.” However, it doesn’t quite succeed in its lofty aspirations of showing Cannes' grit and glamour. Writer Chris Murray (Midsomer Murders) and Director Camille Delamarre (Into The Night) fall back mainly on the rarified world of the uber-rich to create a tidy, sometimes witty, dramatic escapist drama.

As Ol’ Blue Eyes croons, “The Best is Yet To Come,” and the camera swoops over the brilliant blue sea and the hundreds of millionaires’ moored yachts, it’s pretty clear what we’ll be watching. Yet, somehow the series manages to have a cozy feel, with its format of relatively simple storylines, ranging from the credible to the wacko, each wrapped up tidily per episode. But heck, yes, we want to see those glamorous swimming pools and villas and casinos and the (mostly) beautiful people who inhabit them.

The romantic storyline between dedicated police officer Camille Delmasse (Lucie Lucas) and elusive conman Harry King (Jamie Bamber) threatens a never-ending cycle of bickering, flirting, and innuendo. However, Camille also has another unresolved relationship with her sidekick Léa Robert (Tamara Marthe, aka Shy’m), who, with a significant and possibly reciprocal crush on her boss, is furiously jealous of Harry’s involvement in their lives and work.