Dr. Véronique Gilbert (Friederike Linke) opens with Dr. Hugo Simon (Nico Rogner) opened a new country doctor’s practice in southern France. (ZDF / Clément Puig)
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For the third time, the somewhat different family film is crossed with the doctor series in the ZDF Sunday series “A Table in Provence”. The dispute over the Provence practice – Véronique inherited the practice from her father, who has also installed a successor because the daughter has not yet passed an exam – seems to be blown away in the new episode “Two Doctors on the Move”. The fact that German actors are pretending to be French doctors shouldn’t be a problem, although it is a bit strange when the Germans suddenly greet them with “Salu!”, “Bonjour!” Or “Au revoir!”. A musette accordion or a gently lapping piano help overcome such concerns – and why shouldn’t they be allowed to do in Provence what others are doing so shamelessly in other Sunday films, for example with Pilcher in Cornwall or with Inga Lindström in Sweden?
What smoldered for a long time finally breaks open
Veronique’s mother Thérèse (Sabine Vitua) confides a secret to her brother-in-law Franck (Peter Benedict) after 35 years. (ZDF / Clément Puig)
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In addition, there is little time left to think about national team affiliations. There is a lot going on in and around the doctor’s office. A young girl wants to throw herself off a bridge and wants to be saved by Véro and her partner for lack of psychological service. Parallels are made to Véro’s former grief at home. A heavily pregnant baker suffers from pregnancy poisoning and is in great danger. And then there is also Catherine (Gesine Cukrowski), Vero’s aunt, who has just got over cancer. So the drama likes to stay in the family. Catherine wants to start a new life and puts a farewell letter on the table for her husband, Vero’s uncle, so that he is completely finished.
But what has been smoldering for a long time is also breaking up: Véro is not her father’s biological daughter, from whom she suffered so much that she ran away as a nurse to Hamburg and only came back to the old man’s funeral. Something like that wants to be confessed by one’s own mother – after no less than 35 years. Such set pieces from the soap opera corner are undoubtedly one of the weaknesses of this “first Herzkino-Medical”, as ZDF proudly calls the series.
Thérèse Gilbert (Sabine Vitua, left) enjoys the fact that her daughter Véro (Friederike Linke) and her granddaughter Lea (Paula Siebert) now live with her in Talon. (ZDF / Clément Puig)
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On the other hand, Friederike Linke (“In all friendship – The nurses”) and Nico Rogner are a perfect match as a pair of doctors in white coats. The popularity competition among the Provencal patients alternates quite nonchalantly with mutual sympathy on the verge of verbal lovemaking. If Véro wants to be pressed by Hugo, she can have it. But even Hugo, the doctor with the nasty trembling hand, who cannot see any wounds, let alone mend them, needs help.
The nice thing about this medical series is its lightness. The fact that the director and camera (Frauke Thielecke, Christian Klopp) indulge at best briefly in lavender fields or pine forests (attention, drone!) Has a pleasant effect. Even beach scenes are not idyllic here. The main episode of the 18-year-old who wants to take her own life alone seems less successful. Lead in the blood as a trigger for the depression, the Jewish ancestry of the grandparents – at least for German viewers that is all too lightly told.
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