Les Revenant & Case Studies

The Returned is a French supernatural drama television series, created by Frabice Gpbert and is based on a French film called They Came Back (2004) . The series debuted on the 26th November, consisting of 8 episodes (same as humans), it came out on the channel Canal Plus (Ploo) and on the 13th of December 2013, the first series won an International Emmy Award for best Drama Series.  

In the UK on the 9th of June 2013 it aired on Channel 4
2 series 8 episodes in each of the series

Genre Conventions of Les Revenant 

Supernatural - the tee of the living dead
Gothic - The dark shadows and the themes of madness and decay
Mystery - How the dead have come back alive, the scenes of Camile walking through the mountains
Family Drama - The scene were Lana and Camile and see eachother and everyone starts crying
Audience Gratification/Negotiation and textual poaching - disobeying the producers intentions and reading scenes wrong
Zombie - people coming back from the dead, however they are atypical as they are not abiding by the stereotypical zombie traits
It is a very avantgarde  - breaks th rules on purpose
They have picked very French looking people

Cult TV
- A Group of people who are highly passionate about a certain show and tend to be a small group. They have a strong emotional bond to the show and shows with a cult are known as a Cult Classic.

Steve Neal - Genre Theory 

Genre exists to be able to categorise the many styles of film and TV and allows the audience to be able to identify what they are watching before they watch it.

To what Extent is 'Les Revenant' typical of its genre?

It is a Zombie show and is atypical.

ways in which it is atypical

• Setting - Picturesque, instead of am apocalyptic setting it is normal and advanced instead of stunted
• The 'Zombies' are not rotting or even appear to be dead - almost like ghosts
• A relatable story show
• Camile is seen as the typical zombie girl however she is not craving flesh and is untouched
• The music is calming and not scary what so ever 

Case Studies 

The Sex Scene 

• The colour contrast of Lena being shot with a red tint and very warm tones where as her sister Camille is seen as cold and blues and cool tones, contrasting to how the two are feeling 
• The Framing is the same, they girls are facing the same direction, making them seem identical, however, they move out of shot in different directions, Lena moves from left to right and Camille is moving right to left, signifies the difference is growing between them 
• The shot type is similar while Lena is having sex and Camille is in the bus, two show the similarities
• The editing on Lena is slow and calm, where as with Camille is frantic and disorientated 
• As the sex scene is about to climax, so is the Bus and the non diegetic music created tension so you feel something is going to happen to both of them, Lena is having sex and Camille is about to die, the music creates tension on behalf of both
• Lena wearing the white top, mid shot, represents purity and virginity, however she is about to loose it, the scene in the kitchen, where Lena looks at Camille for the last time, they end on bad terms, the mes en scene of the kitchen sink, is a middle class setting, appealing to a middle class audience
• Lena pulling a sickie is a relatable occasion that everyone has been in
• The close up BEV of Lena and her boyfriend positions the audience in a voyeristic senario, we know it is an intimate  scene due to the low-key lighting, signifies 
• Lena's boyfriend is typical working class, signifying she is rebellious as he is not from the same cloth as her family.  All in all, the sex scene is a positive representation
• The fact Camille is feeling what her sister is feeling, the fact Camille is then experiencing sex that her sister is having, le petite morte (French for orgasm), this means the little death - in films and TV the idea of loosing your virginity is portrayed as loosing your innocence - the little death, Lena looses her sister because of it.  
• The mes en scene of Camille's blue jacket symbolises the ICE-olation she is feeling 
• The coach is a relatable setting for the teen-ish audience and the adults watching
• Lenna's boyfriend looks like a stereotypical skater/Stoner due to the connotations of the beanie
• The middle aged middle class audience will relate to the parents frustration, the Lexis of the mother doubting her daughter will appeal to the middle class audience

Victor Stalks Julie

• The dead pan facial expressions on Victor connote a calmness that is un-nerving, indicating he is control of the situation.  
• Julies baggy jumper and jeans connotes she is more about comfort than style etc
• The concrete/flat Julie lives in is a juxtaposition of the house Camille's family lives in
• The fact that Victor is calm and straight faced is opposite to Julie who is twitchy and on edge, holding her cuffs and looking quite emotional 
• Les Revenant purposefully conforms to genre hybriditity to appeal to a variety of audiences
• The Long tracking shot of Mr costa walking down his hall is a proairetic code, this is conventional of a slasher movie where the jump scare is anticlimactic.  
• Julie is pretty 'no nonsense' as she does not seem shocked or scared when Victor is in her garden, this is anchored by her costume
• She is atypical as her fashion sense is atypical of gender stereotype, not showing any skin etc.   
• Julie is not very expressionist, she seems quite depressed, she seem tired with the bags under he eyes, small narrow eyes and her hair is slightly messy, she appears scruffy, she is not stereotypically hegamonicly attractive woman.
• Julie is a stereotypical French looking woman, this will appeal to a French audience   
• Due to the Mes en Scene of her apartment, the low-key lighting shows she likes to be cosy and the piles of books shows she prefers to be more intellectual and drawings of her own stuck to the wall, this connotes she is creative and intelligent
• Julie and Victor are a binary opposition, there is not a mother and son type of relationship there
• The low-key unnatural light with blue elements demonstrates Julie is in a dangerous situation   
• The long shot long take of the rainy bus stop is a proairetic code that something is going to happen, then BOOM Victor arrives 
• Victor's clean jumper and perfect hair is a binary opposition or Julie