‘Osmosis’ is the new Netflix Original French sci-fi show. The platform offers us a Black Mirror-à-la-française with a story set in a Parisian near-future. The plot is about a new dating app promising to its users to find their soulmate by swallowing a brain-hacking pill that connects to their dream partner’s mind.
If it makes you think about Black Mirror’s ‘Hang the DJ’, its producers Sarah Aknine and Aude Albano said that is was not a “French Black Mirror”. But it seems hard to find the difference: the general white and futuristic ambiance is similar, its story focuses on the flaws and risks of technology by looking at specific characters to create a universal reflexion.
Unfortunately, we don’t buy it.
The cheap sci-fi ambiance makes us claustrophobic with its neon, echoing rooms and blurred outdoor backgrounds making the futuristic aspect of the show just determined by one character’s (Billy) atypical physical appearance. Lousy phrase like:”Sorry I’m late, but I have no excuses since there is no traffic since 10 years”, seems to shout “We are on small budget”. Maybe innovating with fresh visuals, far from any previous sci-fi-Black-Mirror’s aesthetic would have helped. Something more French in its cinematic approach, maybe a New Wave spirit to revolutionise the sci-fi world?
If the story could have been fascinating, it is weakened by too many (12) undefined characters that are prisoners from the archetypes that they represent.
The story goes into too many directions and ends in a cheesy family drama that could have been avoided. Moreover, when the series wants to show true love, it clumsily exposes the practice of grotesque sex almost on every shot with a strip club, a VR mask to fuck virtual partners or even a wanking-addict character. There’s a lack of depth accentuated by the bad acting meaning that when the series should have used warmth, violence and humanity to make us believe in the plot; it leaves us cold and unmoved.
In brief, you’ll find cheap sci-fi with degrading French actors in a confused and slow story – nothing to treasure.
