Creatures Of Habit – As the second episode of Cannes Confidential begins, Maxime Beauregard (Arnaud Binard) and Natalia Beauregard (Sabrina Martello) arrive at the casino. They’re told that the Belroses are already here. Once Natalia sits down, Maxime walks away to get her a drink. Natalia sits alone while Max has a drink with someone else. She gets up and walks away leading the women to believe she is angry. Natalia throws up in the bathroom. A woman comes in and knocks her purse into the floor. She picks it up and hands it back to Natalia. Natalia puts on the lipstick the woman handed her before returning to her table. She takes a drink and ends up collapsing to the floor.

After the intro, Ramzy Chabat (Sammy Lechea) suspects Natalia was killed using cyanide. Lea tells him to get to work and she’ll call the lieutenant. In the morning, Camille Delmasse (Lucie Lucas) runs into Harry King (Jamie Bamber) who says his friend Maxi’s wife died. Ramzy and Lea continue collecting evidence. Camille tells Harry to say and do nothing. Camille learns about Natalia who likely died from cyanide poisoning. She speaks to Maxime and says she is sorry for his loss. Maxi says his wife didn’t eat or drink anything out of the ordinary, but he fixed her a cocktail as usual. He mentions how he spoke to some guests and says they hadn’t received any threats lately.

Camille suggests women were jealous of his wife because his casino is one of the city’s main landmarks. Lea and Harry speak to Bella Degarmo (Nagisa Morimoto) who admits that Natalia wanted to have a baby. Harry says Max isn’t the settling kind though. Once Camille interrupts, Lea asks if she wants to speak to the sisters. She thinks she has the picture. Camille believes one has been sleeping with Maxime and the other one would like to. She suspects neither of them got on with the victim so both would be suspects. Camille speaks to Maxime’s assistant Bella who mentions a high roller getting kicked out of the casino about a week ago. Roxie Roland got thrown out for cheating. Camille wants to see the CCTV of that. She is interrupted when Margaux begins laughing with Harry nearby.

Camille takes Harry to a private spot to remind him they had a deal and she wants that information. When Nina Le Blanc (Nancy Tate) arrives, Camille grabs Harry and tries to hide. Nina is there because she has an appointment with Maxime. Once Nina leaves, Camille tells Harry that he has 24 hours. Camille speaks to Lea about Nina’s visit, but won’t tell her about Harry just yet. Then, they question Maxime about Natalia being unwell that night. Max insists he loved Natalia and would never hurt her. Max says she knew what she was getting from the start. Lea questions whether she was going to put a stop to his antics and take him for every penny. Maxime says it was a mutual agreement and he had a vasectomy done years ago.

Natalia knew that. After that, Camille meets Nina to talk about her father’s admission of guilt. Philippe signed a confession and had a bank account with three million Euros in it. Camille tries to refute all of the evidence against her father. Nina complains that this will spill over on all of them and the public won’t trust them. Nina thinks it’d be a good idea for Camille to take some time off. Next, Camille is shown video of Camille at the casino. Bella explains that she came in three nights in a row and cheated each time. On the first night, she walked away with the guaranteed prize money of 50,000. On the second, she walked away with 100,000. On the third, she walked away with almost 250,000.

They don’t know how she cheated, but Bella argues that no one is that good. Bella suggests she could’ve found a way to get inside. On the video, Bella tells Maxi that he hasn’t heard the end of this. No one is allowed near the private bar and it is Bella’s job to make sure they don’t. Camille wants every piece of video footage of that woman. Philippe sits down with Nina. He asks what he has done to earn a visit from the new chief of police. Nina says they want him to help Camille see sense because she doesn’t like their plan. She wants him to talk to Camille, but Philippe says his daughter is her own woman. He refuses and leaves the meeting. Camille wonders why Roxie would lose her cool and make a threat against Maxi. Lea says Maxime fires his bartender Yevgeny recently as well.

The staff claims he was getting down and dirty with Bella. Maxime doesn’t allow employee relationships unless they’re with him. Bella wasn’t happy and was a disgruntled employee. Lea wants to know more about Harry. Camille says it is complicated. Nina calls and wants to speak to Camille. She just got off the phone with the mayor who is a close friend of Maxime. If Camille solves the crime, the mayor will be happy. Harry meets Fredo who wonders what he wants. Harry explains he has come to call in a favor. He reminds Fredo of the hard drive with all of his affairs on it. When Fredo asks what he wants, Harry says Julien Boire. He wants to know where he is and he wants whatever can connect him to the chief of police in Cannes.

Fredo tells Harry to give him until tomorrow. Harry gives him his phone number before he leaves. At the station, Camille tells Lea to find out what she can get from a photo. Lea runs the picture through facial recognition software but nothing comes up. Ramzy interrupts to say Natalia was six weeks pregnant. Camille wants to speak to Maxime since he couldn’t be the father. Harry remembers the event from the past with his daughter again. He seems to be watching her from a distance. Camille asks Maxime about Natalia being pregnant. Although he isn’t the father, he knows and he says Natalia wanted to keep it. Maxime reveals that he fired the father, Yevgeny. He couldn’t ask her to get rid of it because it was her decision. Maxime reveals that Natalia finances all of this with her money.

When Camilla shows him a picture of Roxie Roland, Maxime claims not to know her. While he remembers Roxie being thrown out, he claims he doesn’t actually know her. At the station, Lea goes over the details of that night including the fact that the Belrose sisters were there first. Ramzy reveals that the poison was actually in the lipstick bottle. He shows them the nitrile gloves he found in the garbage. He is told to check them for traces of cyanide. He will also check them for prints. Camille needs to find a way to flush Roxie out. Harry calls to say he might have news for her later. He agrees to meet her at the casino. They ask Maxi how quickly he can set up a high-stakes poker game.

They also want the ban on Roxie lifted. Later, Lea warns Camille that Nina will have her balls for breakfast if this backfires. Maxime says all of the invited players are there except for Roxie. Harry will be playing because Maxime believes he can break her. Harry tells Camille more about poker. He explains it is all about bluffing and illusion. Camille believes Roxie poisoned Natalie. She will put a mic on Harry and she’ll watch him from upstairs. Ramzy calls because he found an old staff photo on the restaurant’s webpage. It doesn’t look like her, but it is impossible to fool the technology. Roxie enters the casino. Camille begins watching the security footage and says they need to find a way of getting the poison from A to B.

It seems Roxie was in the bar the whole time though. Camille starts talking to Harry using the microphone just before Roxie sits at the table. Roxie offers to get Harry a drink, but he says he is fine. While the game continues, Camille watches footage of Natalia going to the bathroom. Harry notices something about Roxie. Camille learns that Roxie went to the bathroom around the same time as Natalia so she had an opportunity to poison her. During a break, Harry says Roxie doesn’t cheat, but she is good at reading people. He noticed a scar on her wrist though. Camille asks Maxime if there were any other women before he met Natalia. She asks why he had the vasectomy. Maxime says something happened. When he looks at the picture of the woman, he calls her Eleonore. She was a waitress who got pregnant.

Harry begins talking to Roxie about scars. Once she shows her cards, Harry asks if she was paying attention or was too busy worrying about what Maxime thinks. Before Harry can show his card, Camille and the others come in to arrest Roxie. Maxime calls her Eleonore. Camille reveals Maxime broke her heart and left her alone and pregnant at 17. She had it removed and tried to commit suicide. Ramzy calls to tell Camille about the evidence from the gloves. Camille says it is the butterfly effect. She explains that Bella was angry because she loved Yevgeny who was having a baby with Natalia. She could’ve switched the lipstick anywhere. Roxine is freed and Bella is arrested for killing Natalia. Maxime apologizes to Roxie and asks to speak in private.

Camille wants to know what the card was, but Harry makes it disappear. He tells her about Julien Boire who has been in Cannes for more than three weeks. When Camille gets home, she finds a note telling her to stop digging or her sister is dead. A car speeds away outside. She goes back inside where she finds Margaux sleeping. Philippe receives a call telling him he has to play ball if he wants to see his daughters again. Julien hangs up.

 

Cannes Confidential Review

The second episode of Cannes Confidential was in line with the previous episode. The series is watchable and most of the performances are strong enough, but viewers will have to bend reality to fully accept the story. In this episode specifically, there were probably too many twists that caused the final reveal to fall flat.

Switching to Bella as the culprit at the last minute was predictable and unnecessary. Besides the setting and the cast, Cannes Confidential doesn’t offer much in terms of originality. A lot of things in this episode have been done previously, especially the card game scene.

I also think the series would be better without everything going on with Camille’s father because it is so outlandish and the investigations are fine on their own. The series isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything to write home about either.

Acorn subscribers may want to give it a shot since it is watchable. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Cannes Confidential can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here.