Anyone who longs for a French holiday will watch the opening scene and immediately book a flight or Eurostar trip on the channel, because the beautiful city of Strasbourg is the backdrop for the opening of this five-part series (‘Disparition Inquiétante’ in native France).
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
Some kind of festival is happening in town, with firecrackers, jugglers and lots of medieval merriment. We see school children running through the streets, freed from the confines of the cathedral they have just visited. The female teacher, Ma’am Stoller, watches the fun and decides to let them off steam – but not for long, as Ma’am Stoller is next found lying dead on the cobbles, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
And if the killing of a grown man in a market square isn’t already unbelievable, it gets worse – because nine school children are missing. But of course, there’s CCTV everywhere these days, right? They’ll be on a grainy videotape somewhere, right? Well, yes, but the old friend of the script-writers – the blind spot of the camera – means that the children have left the shot and gone into thin air. Or maybe a van.
Arriving to investigate is Police Commissioner Maya Rosetti (Sarah Forestier), a headstrong copperhead with a messy home and personal life (we hear her on the phone several times – trying and failing to deliver the scene – bed). Working with her is her old friend Clement Hermann (Pierre Rochefort), a psychiatrist who can provide some valuable insights into the case. Their stormy relationship makes for some fun verbal sparring – but one might wonder if someone who isn’t actually a cop is involved in working the case – as Rosetti pulls the poor guy all over the place (don’t the patients see him? ).
The show draws on the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a local rat catcher who lures the rats from the town to their deaths. When the mayor of Hamelin refuses to pay, Piper takes revenge by seducing the townspeople. In this case, the children are taken by a man dressed as a piper (yes, of course!) to a van and an abandoned building. The children are told that this is all part of the game – a prank they are playing on the teacher. One child is diabetic, but the kidnapping was so well planned that the kidnappers prepared insulin to prevent the child from harming his health. Another boy – an Armenian boy, tormented by other children’s refugee status – is even more suspicious of the motives of their captors. And he is the one who finally plots to escape.
The plot is absolute piffle, it must be said. And by the end of the 90-minute long episode, I found myself losing patience and interest. More interesting is the wonderful character of Rosti and the amazing location. However, as I understand it, the cast mostly changes from episode to episode.
Not one of Walter’s gifts, it must be said. But like anything, it’s worth checking out the place.
Walter presents: ‘Crazy Disappearance’ airs on Extra 4 at 9pm from 14.Th July for six weeks. The series is also available weekly on Walter’s Presents via C4 Stream.
