French war series taking place in Iraq in 2016, “Cœurs Noirs” is broadcast on France 2 after its resounding success on Prime Video.
After its critical and popular success on Prime Video a year ago, Black Hearts is back this time on television. The French action series which caused a sensation in 2023 is broadcast from Monday January 22, 2024 on France 2, from 9:10 p.m.
This series follows a French special forces commando in Iraq in 2016, on the eve of the battle of Mosul, while the soldiers of this special unit must exfiltrate relatives of a French Daesh emir in exchange for his collaboration. In the casting, viewers will recognize Nicolas Duvauchelle in the leading role, who plays opposite Marie Dompnier, Nina Meurisse and Thierry Godard.
It is always difficult to create a fiction about the daily life of the army while being both realistic while having access to all the information on the armed forces, confidentiality requires. However, Cœurs noirs had the desire to set as realistic a framework as possible in order to describe a totally fictitious mission of a special corps of the French army.
To make Black Hearts as realistic as possible, the producers of the series, and in particular Gilles de Verdière, collaborated with the Cinema and Creative Industries Mission of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and with the staff of the Special Operations Command and the units special forces of the three armies, as the ministry recalls in an interview with the producer.
A former member of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment also accompanied the creation of the French action series, from writing to filming, in order to give advice. Furthermore, the actors had to follow an immersion course within this same regiment.
Speaking to the Ministry of Defense, Gilles de Verdière specifies that it was necessary to “find the balance between the credible, the possible and the fiction”. Thus, real events (namely the battle of Mosul in 2016) serve as the framework for a plot in which fictional elements have been added. Among the fictional things found in Black Hearts is the position of long-range shooter, which does not exist in the French special forces.
This alliance of fiction and realism contributed to the success of the series in 2023 on Prime Video. So much so that a season 2 is in preparation, for a hoped-for release during the year 2024. In the meantime, you can catch up with the episodes for free on Monday evenings on France 2 or in streaming on france.tv.
