I gave this a "9." It probably deserves a "10." First, the bad: the series begins with actors doing "cute" too much, a fault I find with many French dramas. Repeat--DRAMAS. The term "meet cute" is why I'd rather have teeth pulled than watch American comic romances. But with "Mythomane," we're talking DRAMA. I was actually repelled by the first two episodes and the breezy infidelity, the "quirky" and unfunny minor characters, the politically correct transgender stuff.
Now, the great (feminist) stuff. Marina Hinds is magnificent in her role of someone who may be a psychopath but whose psychopathy-if indeed it is that-is caused by abuse. She is taken advantage of by her common-law husband, father to her three children, treated like a maid by all three of her odious millennial kids, regarded as something to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible even by her gynecologist. And worse. Watching "Mythomane," you wonder why more twenty-first century women in Elvira's situation don't become even more lawless.
The scene that sold me on "Mythomane" comes at the climax in the sixth episode, where Marina's loneliness and humanity are laid low by absolutely everyone in her family. The humiliation of being rejected by one's own children and judged by these brats is just a devastating scene I'll remember a long time.
The point of "Mythomane" is that we are all liars, not minor league. We are all in our own ways major league sociopathic traitors. The transgender son, the cruelest to Marina of all-who lies like a rug about his sexuality to the extent where an innocent German boy is traumatized maybe for life-has no problem telling his mother, his staunchest supporter, he would have preferred she had died rather than shame the family. The star of the family, a little girl obsessed with Anne Frank, ends up lying like crazy to her huge, presumably YouT*be audience about her mother's problem. A tough teenage daughter dares a friend to risk a jump that makes him fall into a coma-but joins a Scient*logy-like cult. With a mom who lies even about her name (it's not "Elvira"), and a father who treats two women-Elvira and an Asian mistress-like disposable toys, maybe apples don't fall far from trees. But everyone is revolting. So when everyone is revolting, there's no choice but to look for what is redeeming.
I loved--and hated--"Mythomane." The one thing I didn't feel was bored. This is *not* an easy series to like. It will not appeal to American audiences who judge too easily the French sense of humor. But for those who appreciated "Desperate Housewives," this may just be what the doctor ordered. Life is hard for women on whatever the French words for Wisteria Lane are.
