''Plus belle la vie'' (More beautiful life) is a French television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

based on an idea by Hubert Besson and characters created by Georges Desmouceaux, Bénédicte Achard, Magaly Richard-Serrano and Olivier Szulzynger. On air since 30 August 2004, it is currently shown on

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

on Monday to Friday evenings at 8:15 p.m. The show began with 17 main actors and gained more later. On 11 July 2008, France 3 broadcast its 1000th episode, a milestone in French television. The series set a second record on 8 June 2012, airing its 2000th episode. On 22 April 2016, it broadcast its 3000th episode, and on 21 February 2020, its 4000th.

Plot

The series follows the daily lives of the inhabitants of "Le Mistral", a fictional neighbourhood in the

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port city of

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, where wealthy and less than wealthy families co-exist. It focuses on their evolving love lives and friendships evolve and on the criminal intrigues in which certain residents of the neighbourhood are involved.

Main cast

Recurring Cast

Impact

The series struggled to find its footing in the first season, but after striving to create more dynamic story lines, by the second season ''Plus belle la vie'' enjoyed regular audiences of five million viewers. On Valentine's Day 2006, a plot involving Nicolas Barrel's death drew an audience of 6,329,600. On 17 November 2008 ''Plus belle la vie'' received its highest ratings ever with over 6.8 million viewers and a 24.9% audience share. For several years, the series regularly averaged audiences in excess of 5 million viewers and audience shares above 20% each weekday evening. In recent seasons, its viewing numbers have gradually declined. This ratings slump worsened at the onset of the

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and, on 5 May 2022, France Télévisions announced the end of the series which will take place on 18 November 2022, following "a substantial shift in viewing habits" after 18 years on air.

References

External links