The Bureau (2015-2020) is a five-season French spy thriller action drama series created by Éric Rochant of The Patriots’ fame. Monsieur Rochant seems to be obsessed with the shadow world of secret services, but as far as The Bureau is concerned, this is just a cover, a cover for a sublime love story, more or less impossible, mostly impossible. In France, the show was aired by the name of Le Bureau des légendes, which I found a little stupid, but it certainly has been based on a sort of code. It has been compared with The Wire (which I have not yet watched), with Homeland (which again, I’m embarrassed to declare I haven’t watched yet, but I plan to do it asap), with 24… This one I have watched and re-watched from Day 4 on, and now I regret my wasted time because by the end it transformed into some brainwashing anti-terrorist propaganda. After 9/11, terrorism became a very easily stamped label on almost everything opposing the ‘Authority’. Besides that, the unwrapped plots in 24 were insane.
Mathieu Kassowitz in The Bureau
[source: imdb]
The Bureau Plot
The French Secret Service is called DGSE (Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure) – Directorate-General for External Security. They have a deeply covered agents’ section called “le Bureau des légendes” because allegedly almost nobody knows about their existence. Guillaume Debailly, code-named Malotru returns “home” after six years undercover as Paul Lefebvre, a professor of literature in Damascus, Syria. Malotru (literally meaning “lout”) is a man of many talents. He probably is the best spy the French services ever produced, a field agent, an analyst, and a trainer at the same time, even if he’s not looking like James Bond. You see, the thing with this show is that it seems authentic. You’re not blinded by the ultra high-tech from movies where you’re somehow introduced to the CIA’s headquarters, you look at a sort of a common building’s attic, where only very few have access. Actually, the building is not quite common, it looks more like a fortress, but the interiors seem cozy. The exteriors are filmed outside the real DGSE headquarters in Paris.
I hope it’s obvious I won’t start to detail the story, it will be your pleasure if you’ll find the time to watch the five seasons. I’m just emphasizing that underneath the French misadventures in their former colonial empire, this is a beautiful love story.
During his six years undercover in Damascus, Malotru got involved with Nadia El Mansour, a renowned Syrian historian, who unfortunately was married. It may seem frivolous but it’s not, and that’s all you’ll learn by watching. Everything in this movie is connected with this ostensibly impossible love story.
France has underground interests almost all over the world, Middle East, Iran, Kurdistan, the Russian Federation, Algiers, and Iraq, you’ll find out realistically how it is to be a qualified spy, presumably for your country.
Cast
Mathieu Kassovitz is Guillaume Debailly, codename “Malotru” (Lout). Sara Giraudeau is Marina Loiseau, a brilliant deep-cover agent while working as a seismologist, trained to infiltrate the Iranian nuclear industry and later some Russian cybercenter. Jean-Pierre Darroussin is Henri Duflot, Director of the Service of Clandestines. Léa Drucker is Dr. Laurène Balmes, a specialized psychiatrist in behavioral psychology. Zineb Triki is Nadia El Mansour, a Syrian professor of history and Debailly’s love interest from Damascus. Gilles Cohen is Colonel Marc Lauré, codename “MAG” (“Moule à gaufres” or Waffle iron), Director of Intelligence and Henri Duflot’s boss. Florence Loiret-Caille is Marie-Jeanne Duthilleul, Debailly’s handler when he was in Syria. Pauline Étienne is Céline Delorme, a regional expert on the Middle East and North Africa. Jules Sagot is Sylvain Ellenstein, a tech agent specializing in electronic surveillance and hacking. Alexandre Brasseur and Michaël Abiteboul are Pépé and Mémé (grandpa and grandma), two DGSE agents in charge of operational support (tailing, escort, logistics, intimidation). Patrick Ligardes is Marcel Gaingouin, Director of Operations of the DGSE. Mathieu Amalric is Jean-Jacques Angel (JJA), director of the DGSE security service (DSEC) (supposedly based on the famous James Jesus Angleton). Stefan Godin is Pierre de Lattre de Tassigny, Director General of the DGSE. Alba Gaïa Bellugi is Prune Debailly, Guillaume Debailly’s daughter. Artus is Jonas Maury, one of the Syrian analysts. Melisa Sözen is Esrin, a Kurdish militant. Irina Muluile as “The Mule”, a DGSE op in France with increasing importance through the end. Oleksiy Gorbunov is Mikhail Dmitrievich Karlov, Deputy Director of the FSB. Stefan Crepon is César, a talented young hacker. There are more, but the list is too long.
The Bureau – Trailer with English Subtitles
This trailer is just enough enticing to make you want to watch the series without revealing the whole plot.
Some Explanations Instead of Conclusion
A few code names are taken from a Tintin novel. I have no reason to see the logic, it must be a sort of French insider’ joke since Tintin was created by a Belgian author.
The acting in The Bureau is good, there’s nothing outrageously corny even after you get familiar with everybody in the story. The core characters are five or six guys from the DGSE (including Debailly, of course), Nadia El Mansour, and some new guys who appear in seasons four and five. It seems slow-paced, but it’s what one needs to settle the intertwining plots. It’s better than Sopranos because it has nothing built on the rush, the network’s notes, or the rating. Everything looks contained. The other Éric Rochant creations weren’t so perfectly strapped through the final act. I’ve heard about the controversies regarding the finale, but I totally agree with the outcome even if I don’t like it.
From the third season on, what used to look realistic to you becomes less credible. The hacking stuff in the show is science fiction, even less credible than the one in Mr. Robot. The AI technology was at its very beginnings but was used by both the CIA and FSB like it was part of the methodology.
You’re used to thinking that a Secret Service Director is a sort of untouchable, so you don’t expect him to personally threaten civilians. With Karlov, the FSB’s Deputy Director, I think they exaggerate. He appears everywhere, things copied by the producers of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, another show where the mighty CIA Director pops up around the world almost like an operative agent.
Nevertheless, there’s no doubt The Bureau is the best French series ever created and it certainly is one of my top 5 series including The Sopranos (1999-2007), Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Jeeves and Wooster (1990-1993), or Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009). My top 10 favorite shows will be the subject of a future post.
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I fully agree with the being the “Best Spy Thriller TV Series of All Times”.
Howerver it seems to me that you misundestood the term “legends/légendes”. It’s usually used with regard to the cover history (birth, studies, professional and personal history…), the fake life of an “illegal” agent (one without diplomatic imunity).
And “Tintin” was Belgian, but French speaking.
You should watch alo “Baron Noir”, as a political thriller (?). Very high level too.
I hope you find this information useful.
P.