Anyone else doing Netflix binges while they work from home? I have been doing a lot of that lately. Mostly I watch shows or movies that I have already seen before, so I do not get distracted from what I am doing for work. Eventually, I decided that I needed a change and picked this French drama called The Bonfire of Destiny (La Bazar de la Charite).
Originally aired in 2019 in France, this miniseries is inspired by a true event that happened in Paris in 1897. The fire at the Bazar de la Charite becomes the main event that pushes the show’s main characters to various directions in their lives, changing them completely. I originally wanted to watch it with the French audio, but I figured I could not work and read subtitles at the same time, so I decided to use the English audio provided by Netflix instead.
The series is revolves around the story of three women: Adrienne, her niece Alice, and Rose, who works for Alice’s family. The women are from different walks of life: Adrienne is married to a rich and powerful man but is in an unhappy and abusive marriage, which has led her to have an affair with another man. Alice is young and happily engaged to Julien, while Rose is planning to leave the country with her husband, who like her also works for Alice’s family.
As the three women all gathered to attend the Bazar, a fire broke out and many people, particularly women and children, were killed. This was mostly because the men were all pushing women away to escape. It was during the fire that Alice saw Julien (who had left her behind) push Rose into the fire just so that he could get away. She was rescued by Victor, a petty thief who she ran into earlier. She could never look at Julien the same way again after what happened, not even if her father had promised her to Julien in exchange for his money since, apparently, they were broke.
Adrienne, who left the Bazar to be with her lover, used the fire as an opportunity to fake her own death to get away from her husband. Rose, on the other hand, was taken by a rich woman who wanted her to take the place of her daughter, who died in the fire. With her face disfigured from the fire, it was easy for her to take her place, albeit reluctantly because she was nursed back to health.
The events that happened after the fire revolved around drama, romance, politics, and conspiracy. It gave each woman challenges to face as a result of what happened to them in the fire. I would like to think that all three rose to the challenge and despite the heartbreaks that they all experienced, they were able to come out of it happy with where they were in the end.
I really enjoyed watching this show. I loved that the episodes were not that long and there were only eight episodes. It made the show easy to watch because it was not dragging the drama along for the sake of length. I also liked that the bad guys in the story got what they deserved and that Julien had the opportunity to redeem himself from the bad things that he did. I love it when redemption is given to characters like him.
The last episode was a bit open-ended. I felt that the show could end there but that they could also continue with the story of the three women if they had wanted to. Unfortunately, the show was a limited series and ended there. Because of this show, I think I will be looking out for shows that may not necessarily be what I am used to but could possibly as entertaining.
If you have a Netflix account, I highly recommend this show. Let me know if you have seen it!
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