Chaussee D'Amour

A flemish, 11 part television series, this was a high budget drama series produced for Telenet, and it's finale aired today on VIER.

Set against the background of a redlight district, it follows the struggle of a wife and her children to adapt and survive in this not run of the mill environment.

When Sylvia has her husband arrested for sexual arrasment with one of his gyneacologist patients, she leaves him together with her children.  She recently inherited a brothel from her father, and her godfather Willy is still running the "chaussee", a street full of places of light sin.

While she tries to adapt to her new life, and eventually becoming the madame of the place, the Federal police sends an investigator that is looking into a 20 year old case: the murder of Amand Allaire.  While Willy is the prime suspect, it soon starts to twist and turn and not everything is what it looks...

A great series, this adds a flair of drama to what (in Belgium) is a bit of a relic of days gone by.  Bars are more and more fading out of the streetview, and believe me, when I was younger, they where a rather common sight. 

Storng performances by some of the best Flanders has to offer (Dirk Roothoofd, Josse De Pauw, to name a few), set in a location and story that isn`t that frequently used in a series, and a very intriguing mystery add really to the series.

Just a pity it doesn`t have a rewatch value as once you know how the mystery fans out... bit like Agatha Christie books ;-)