The Sentinels puts some of its cards on the table from the opening minutes, with a gently haunting soundtrack playing as we’re given the key details: it’s 1915, the war has been raging for months and France is on the verge of defeat.
It could just be another war-time drama, but it’s soon clear that both the story, and the vibe, are something new. The look has more than a tinge of noir, and the storyline a touch of the fantastic, with a secret serum being used to create super soldiers. It’s a troubled superhero story and a war drama and sci-fi, and clearly French too, and while there’s some overlap with stories such as Batman and Captain America, The Sentinels has created its own genre niche. And that uniqueness is very much what the creative team set out to deliver.
“From soldiers turned into war machines to combat-enhancing drugs, futuristic prosthetics, and evil spies working together with gangsters with occult powers, The Sentinels is half sci-fi fantasy, half spy action series,” says series creator and co-screenwriter Guillaume Lemans.
“Our goal with The Sentinels has been to create an utterly unique series packed with intrigue. We wanted it to be specifically French – steeped in [wartime] France and the Parisian slums – but with an international appeal as a clear work of fiction, presenting well-developed characters in extraordinary circumstances.”
The series took inspiration from a four-volume graphic novel series, Les Sentinelles, by Xavier Dorison and Enrique Breccia. “Although drawing from the key themes and mature steampunk feel of the original work, the series deviates from it by taking many liberties with the personalities, lineage and fates of the characters,” Lemans explains.
At the heart of the story is Gabiel (Louis Peres), a wounded soldier who develops extraordinary speed and strength after being treated with the serum as part of a secret army research project. But he, and fellow soldiers Dijibouti (Thibaut Evrard), Armand (Carl Malapa) and De Clermont (Kacey Mottet-Klein), soon discover that these new powers come with their own dangers.
Armand (Carl Malapa), Gabriel (Louis Peres), De Clermont (Kacey Mottet-Klein) and Djibouti (Thibaut Evrard). Credit: Caroline Dubois
Meanwhile, Gabriel’s wife Irène (Olivia Ross), a journalist, has been told he is dead but refuses to believe it and sets out to investigate. Her pursuit of the truth will put her life in danger. It also draws her into the realm of ‘The Baron’ (Ouassini Embarek), who runs a cabaret nightspot called Les Damnés, a refuge for a motley group of strange characters including Gisèle (Nastya Golubeva), a young medium who longs for a different life.
Ouassini Embarek as The Baron and Nastya Golubeva as Gisèle. Credit: Caroline Dubois
These characters and their dilemmas are at the heart of the story, says Thierry Poiraud, director of episodes 1-4, whose recent works have included sci-fi drama limited series Infiniti and supernatural crime thriller Black Spot.
“If it were to be described as a ‘superhero series’, Sentinels would be on par with the most recent Batman or Logan movies: realistic, mature film noir that places the characters and their psychology at the core of the plot and the action,” he says.
“A motley crew of soldiers band together to defeat their common enemy while, in the background, is a plot inspired by one of the great figures from our collective lore: the hero gone astray who must return home, overcoming trials and battling his fears on the way.
“Our own hero, Gabriel, possesses a monstrous dimension that would be right at home in such gothic narratives as Frankenstein, Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The island of Dr Moreau. The darkness that Gabriel attempts to dispel is that animalistic, violent streak lying dormant in humankind until awakened on the battlefield. The theme of the monster, or outsider, ubiquitous in superhero films, is exemplified both by Gabriel and by the Baron’s … strange outcast creatures.
Louis Peres as Gabriel in 'The Sentinels'. Credit: Caroline Dubois
“In The Sentinels, the worlds of science and mysticism collide. Each plays out on its own stage: the clandestine laboratory of the Sentinels and the cabaret Les Damnés that is home to the Damned. These two narratives and families are fated to become one, however, when they must sacrifice to secure France’s victory.”
Paris itself is a key part of the series, with a nod to the different characters of its various districts – the Sentinel headquarters hidden on the city’s outskirts, Les Damnés in Montmartre – and the soundtrack too, with original music composed by Thomas Couzinier and Frédéric Kooshmanian. (Fun fact – Couzinier’s other collaborators include Taika Waititi, with the pair working on a slick and cinematic Belvedere vodka commercial).
Setting the mood: behind the scenes for filming of episode 1. Credit: Caroline Dubois
“Mechanical, powerfully percussive music punctuates the narrative of this adaptation taking place toward the end of the Second Industrial Revolution. An orchestral instrumentation melds with synthesised sounds and industrial audio samples, crafting a musical signature where classical meets rock and electronic,” Poiraud says.
Together, these elements create a drama that takes superhero stories and the themes of war into different territory – what producers Lionel Uzan and Delphine Clot term a “retro-futuristic” feel.
A playful, unpredictable, retro-futurisitc French superhero series: There’s nothing like it!
This article includes material supplied by CANAL+.
The Sentinels is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Sentinels
series • action • French
MA15+
series • action • French
MA15+
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