The last time I reviewed this light-hearted French series “Art of Crime” was 18 months ago, ending with Season Seven. Here is the usual link to previous reviews to prep you for this pair of two-part mysteries for our cop and art expert duo to solve in the latest round: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/tag/art-of-the-crime-season-7/
In Season Eight, Florence (Eleonore Bernheim) and Antoine (Nicolas Gob) are still up in the air about their romantic status. By now, he’s ready to take the plunge, but too emotionally bottled up to just say it. Not really a problem, since she’s too hyper with conflicts over such a big decision to listen, anyway. The unfortunate one stuck in the middle is their beleaguered boss, Alex Pardo, (Benjamin Egner), who finds himself separately enduring their travails as if he were a shrink for both. Perhaps more accurately, a referee.
The first case involves the murder of a popular romance/crime novelist’s researcher. The author, Patricia Richter (Catherine Marchal) might be either another potential target or the perp. Her upcoming novel would kill off her long-standing studly hero, greatly upsetting a large, avid fan base. “Heresy!” they shout, in various ways, including some laced with menace. The novel was to be based on a few Raphael paintings, making Florence’s expertise key to the solution. Since the nascent tale includes a florid, if not lurid, love element, the script ups the ante from her usual imaginary chats with the artist du jour by showing the principals mentally enacting scenes from the book as they read it, providing a delightful, elaborate sendup of soap opera histrionics. Two 45-minute segments provide just the right running time for the material. It’s one of the better scripts from Angele Herry-Leclerc and Pierre-Yves Mora, who have written almost all of the series’ 26 episodes. Credit also to Florian Crepin’s direction – especially in those fantasy sequences.
The second pair offers a different type of attraction, via an opening sequence showing considerable boobage in a misty, languid Turkish bath sequence based on paintings by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (Either they’re running out of artists I’ve heard of, or my inner troglodyte is showing). The designer of a virtual reality game arising from his work – particularly the longstanding mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a missing valuable original – is the victim. Again, several have motives to sort through, requiring the usual form of effort by the stars and a few key supporting characters.
Florence’s amusingly annoying art historian father, Piere (Philippe Duclos) manages to reinsert himself into both cases. He’s always a welcome addition for viewers, if less so for his long-suffering daughter. Alex also plays a bigger role in their efforts this season than he often has, lending a stabilizing presence to the emotional pinballing of the two leads. Season Nine aired in France a couple of months ago. Let’s hope it finds its way across the Atlantic faster than this one did.
RATING: 2 1/2 out of 4 stars
THE ART OF CRIME Season 8 Episode 1 will stream June 23, 2026 in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice.