The Blue Bicycle

Léa, the daughter of a wealthy Bordeaux family, is spending happy days at the Montillac family estate at the end of the 1930s. Radiant with youth, she charms all the men who meet her on the blue bicycle offered to her by her father. She is in deep love with Laurent, when she tells him, he lets her down. He is in love with Camille, Lea's best friend. The war sounds the death knell of her carelessness. She takes refuge in Paris. There, she finds Laurent, his secret love, who has just married Camille. During a party given him, she meets mysterious François -a friend of Laurent who works for the government. He goes right on and starts to win Lea's heart, but she is not interested. Laurent has to go to the front-line. He asks Lea to stay with Camille in Paris, to look after her and the unborn baby. But the German troops are progressing, and Léa and Camille are forced to leave the capital.

The Blue Bicycle (2000) is a French three-part miniseries created by Thierry Binisti for France 2. Léa Delmas (Laetitia Casta), the radiant daughter of a wealthy Bordeaux family, spends idyllic summers at the Montillac estate on a blue bicycle given to her by her father, charming every man she meets. Her heart is set on Laurent (Virgile Bayle), who rejects her for her best friend Camille (Silvia De Santis). When war arrives, Léa flees to Paris, where she finds Laurent newly married and meets François Tavernier (Georges Corraface), a mysterious government man who pursues her while she resists. Pierre Delmas (François Marthouret) and Jacques Spiesser's Adrien anchor the family around her. Each of the three ninety-minute episodes moves through the shifting ground of occupied France, with train journeys, Paris salons and escapes as the rhythm of the story. The tone is melancholic and romantic, with a wistful nostalgia for a vanished world and a steady undertow of dread as German troops advance. Fans of Suite Française and Atonement will find resonance in its wartime romance, moral compromise and the slow collapse of a privileged life.

• Suite Françaiseshared wartime romance and occupation-era melodrama with a young woman caught in historical upheaval
• The Vanished Empireshared French period drama tone of love and loss during the German occupation
• Atonementshared sweeping historical romance set against the Second World War

Created by

Thierry Binisti

Release Date

2000-10-09

Episode runtime

90 min

Rating

6.6 / 10 (17)

What is The Blue Bicycle about?

A carefree bordeaux heiress's romantic world collapses as war reaches France in 1940.

What is The Blue Bicycle like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Blue Bicycle as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.

Is The Blue Bicycle violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Blue Bicycle as moderate.

Which shows are like The Blue Bicycle?

Shows with a similar feel include Suite Française, The Vanished Empire, and Atonement.

How long is The Blue Bicycle?

The Blue Bicycle: 1 season, 3 episodes.

Is The Blue Bicycle still running?

No, The Blue Bicycle has ended.