Before reading my intention is not to lure viewers away from Fenix as the two do have unique concepts while the original which is the French version consists of 8 episodes that can take up a week this version goes on for a couple of months again except different concepts.
Le Bazar de la Charité (The Bonfire of Destiny) begins with the depiction of a true event, the fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris, 4 May 1897, in which 126 people died. Planning to visit the bazaar is Adrienne de Lenverpré (Audrey Fleurot), an upper-class woman who seeks to escape from her marriage to her tyrant husband, Marc-Antoine de Lenverpré (Gilbert Melki), a candidate for the President of the Senate.
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While Adrienne's niece, Alice de Jeansin, along with her close confidant and maidservant, Rose Rivière, attend the bazaar the fire breaks out. Adrienne, who had entered the event earlier but left to meet her paramour, realizes to her horror that she, too, could have been inside. From there the plot revolves around the aftermath of the conflagration and the lives of the three women.
It took a big cast to tell the story. There were corrupt politicians, investigators, cops, journalists, newsboys, anarchists, devious mothers-in-law, near bankrupt parents, philandering fake husbands, and pretend children. The costumes and opulent sets of the rich people in the story were fabulous.
False identities, faked deaths, and loving below your class were just a few of the plot lines that our three heroines became involved in as the story spun its magic. The guillotine situated in the middle of the frame in every episode was set to whisk off the head of one of those characters. Some characters plotted to put him on the chopping block, while others worked to prove his innocence.
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Exciting things like stabbings, shootings, bonking on the head with metal pipes, and men knocking women about figured into resolving some of the problems. The climactic scenes in the final episode had the three women’s stories in a good place. It felt like the series could end after those 8 episodes and be complete. But The Bonfire of Destiny (Le Bazar de la Charité) was specifically labeled Season 1, so there may be plans to carry on with the women’s lives with new drama in the future. They were strong, willful, interesting women.
For those without a Netflix subscription can easily tune into Fenix on eExtra from 24 May at 19:30.
Credit: Virginia DeBolt
