Series Review: "All The Light We Cannot See" (2023).

"Based on Pulitzer Prize winning novel" comes All The Light We Cannot See. This drama series directed by Shawn Levy, adapted and developed by Steven Knight, and based on Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same title. In the final days of WWII, the paths of a blind French girl and a German soldier collide.

In March 2019, Netflix and 21 Laps Entertainment acquired the rights to develop a limited television series adaptation of Doerr's novel. In September 2021, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order consisting of four episodes, with Knight penning the adaptation and Levy directing all episodes. By mid March, Louis Hofmann, Lars Eidinger, Hugh Laurie, Mark Ruffalo, Marion Bailey, Felix Kammerer, Luna Wedler, Ed Skrein, Richard Sammel, and Aria Mia Loberti were cast. Loberti is blind in real life. She was a PhD candidate when she auditioned for an open call for actresses who are blind or vision impaired. Her service dog accompanied her during filming in Budapest. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late July. Filming took place in France, Germany and Hungary. In late March, James Newton Howard was hired to compose the series' score. The main scenes (street, bombings, Saint-Malo liberation) being filmed in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. This town was chosen for its ancient central square similar to Saint-Malo's before the World War II destruction, and for its familiar 1940s style streets. A large part of the town was adapted for all production needs.

The series stars Hofmann, Eidinger, Laurie, Ruffalo, Bailey, Kammerer, Wedler, Skrein, Sammel, and Loberti. The film doesn't always trust the story to work on its own, so it wedges in a few too many big moments - and one egregious bit of product placement - but when it relies on the performances, it works. The series mixes European and American actors using French and German accents, a few German actors, and the occasional German word, creating a playfully successful illusion of German-ness. The story is tragic and captivating at the same time. Hoffmann and Loberti are outstanding.

It may span the most significant days of WWII, but the series pretty much boils down to French-blind-girl-lives-in-war-torn-France, blind-girl-connects-with-German-soldier - for four hours. The film has essentially been commissioned on the say-so of pinot-guzzling, chick-lit-licking chocoholics, and it shows. Boy, it's dull and pointless. The film manages to capture the horror of war and the tension of life in the LeBlanc household, and there are moments that will shock those not familiar with the story. Marie-Laure LeBlanc's story is stirring, and it holds the film up during most of its predictable parts, but the series never rises too far above that. The narration from Death only serves to make it more like some sort of fantastical fairy tale. Showing tragic events through a child's eyes can be a powerful storytelling strategy, but there's something altogether too cosy and bland about Levy's handling of the material here.

Simon says All The Light We Cannot See receives:

Also, see my review for The Adam Project.