The Rope

For the album by Black Tape for a Blue Girl, see The Rope (album).
The Rope
The series was filmed at the former Lessive Space Telecommunications Earth Station in Belgium
GenreDrama, Mystery
Created byDominique Rocher
Éric Forestier
Based onLa Corde
by Stefan Aus dem Siepen
Screenplay byEric Forestier
Dominique Rocher
Directed byDominique Rocher
StarringSuzanne Clément
Jeanne Balibar
Jean-Marc Barr
Christa Théret
Richard Sammel
Jakob Cedergren
Music byGrégoire Hetzel
Country of originFrance
No. of episodes3
Production
ProducersCarine Boyé
Pierre Garnier
CinematographyJordane Chouzenoux
EditorIsabelle Manquillet
Running time156 minutes (52 min each)
Original release
NetworkArte
Release28 December 2021 (2021-12-28)

The Rope (French: La Corde) is a French drama miniseries created by Dominique Rocher, and Éric Forestier.[1][2] The story follows a group of scientists at a remote Norwegian ground station who find a mysterious rope nearby in the woods.[3]

Plot

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At a remote ground station somewhere in northern Norway, renowned scientists Bernhardt Mueller and his wife Agnès are leading a team to research FRBs.[4] They hope to receive authorization soon to implement a protocol on which they have been working for fifteen years. When the approval is given the celebrations are interrupted by a weird discovery. Some of the team members find a seemingly endless rope that suddenly appears at the edge of the forest. Bernhardt decides to lead a group of six which include Sophie, Serge, Leila, Joseph and Dani to follow the rope. Bernhardt eventually becomes hesitant and chooses to go back to the station. Along the way back though, he falls down a steep cliff and is killed. As the remaining five continue following the rope, concern for their well-being has set in back at the station. While Agnès worries about her husband, she takes advantage of his absence to spend time with her secret lover Ulrik.

Eventually a rescue team is formed to search the area which turns up no results. While following the rope far ahead Sophie has a healing vision, and Leila is entranced by the rope which gives both of them determination to follow the rope to the end. The remaining five members eventually find the bodies of previous followers. Dani has a vision that night of a talking corpse who tells her they had a disagreement that turned violent about whether to continue or not. In frustration she tries to cut the rope the following morning but is killed by Sophie before doing so. Leila sneaks off the morning after to follow the rope on her own which leads her husband Joseph to search for her. Serge is left alone with Sophie where he kills her in a murderous rage. Back at the station the time soon comes to experiment with the protocol. The police have given up all hope of finding the missing team members having searched for 3 weeks.[a]

Agnès refuses to face the reality of her loss while concurrently her experimental protocol ends in failure. When Ulrik understands why their scientific experiment failed, she regains hope and decides to find Bernhardt herself by following the rope. She eventually finds his remains and is given peace knowing she can finally move on and be with Ulrik. Agnès decides to retire from the field of Astronomy after her protocol is a success. When she goes to Ulrik though, he informs her that he had waited long enough for her. Meanwhile, far down the rope the remaining two survivors Leila and Joseph find each other in a vast desert. The two reconcile then argue the following day after Joseph doesn't recognize her. Joseph ends up killing his wife and continues to follow the rope until it is revealed to the audience that it intersects with another rope.

Cast

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Production

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While The Rope was directed by Dominique Rocher, it was originally based on a German novel by Stefan aus dem Siepen.[5] The original novel is set in the 19th century and involves farmers from a village.[4][2] Co-creator Éric Forestier noted that the story was handled in a "very binary way" with the men following the rope while the women stayed at the village.[2] He stated that while the book "obviously has qualities", he wanted to give the story a modern retelling.[2] The series was greenlit, and was eventually produced by Les Films de l'Instant in co-production with Arte France and Versus Production.[7]

Scenes involving the "remote" Norwegian ground station were shot at the former Lessive Space Telecommunications Earth Station (now called "Le Jardin des Paraboles") in the village of Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium.[8][9] Additional scenes were also shot in the nearby village of Havrenne with permission from the municipality.[8] The café used towards the end of the series is located in the Belgian city of Namur which was meant to be Oslo Norway for the story.[9] Filming of the series as a whole took place in France, Belgium, and Morocco from October 14 to November 27, 2020.[7][10]

Reception

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Dorothée Barba from Radio France compared the series to The Blair Witch Project by saying the audience should know that things will go wrong.[1] She also echoed the content warning at the start of each episode "This program has scenes not recommended for young or sensitive audiences."[1] Oliver Armknecht from film-rezensionen.de said that while the story was familiar to German audiences, the adaptation of the novel involving space exploration adds a "charming parallel".[11] Armknecht gave the series a 7/10 rating by saying the series has no clear answer to the rope mystery, and requires the audience to think about all this for themselves.[11]

Notes

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  1. ^ 4 or 5 days have passed for the missing team members.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dorothée Barba (January 24, 2022). ""La corde", sur Arte : un thriller fantastique qui suit le fil de notre soif de savoir". Radio France (in French). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Nico Franks (January 26, 2022). "Roped in". Drama Quarterly. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e "La corde : mini-série fantastique avec Suzanne Clément, Jean-Marc Barr et Jeanne Balibar sur Arte.tv". French Touch 2 (in French). January 26, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Anthony Morris (June 10, 2022). "Who knows what lies at the end of 'The Rope'?". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Laurent Valière (January 16, 2022). ""La Corde", thriller métaphysique en Norvège". France Info (in French). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  6. ^ Jamie Lang (August 28, 2021). "Wild Bunch TV Acquires 'The Rope,' World Premiering at Series Mania". Variety. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Ioan Niculai (October 14, 2020). "ARTE : Dominique Rocher tourne la mini-série fantastique "La Corde"". www.lemediaplus.com (in French). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  8. ^ a b ""La corde", une série signée ARTE, actuellement en tournage à Rochefort". SudInfo (in French). November 12, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  9. ^ a b "La série Arte "La corde" tournée ce lundi à Namur". SudInfo (in French). November 23, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  10. ^ "Jeanne Balibar bientôt à l'affiche de La Corde, une série Arte entre thriller et fantastique". TV Magazine (in French). October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Oliver Armknecht (January 27, 2022). "Das Seil". Film-rezensionen.de (in German). Retrieved November 2, 2022.
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