Kaamelott
2005
Original language: French
- comedy
- drama
- sci-fi & fantasy
The story
Kaamelott is a French comedy medieval fantasy television series created, directed, written, scored, and edited by Alexandre Astier, who also starred as the main character. The series, which originally ran for six seasons (referred to as 'books'), ran from January 3, 2005, to October 31, 2009, on M6. In this offbeat account of King Arthur's quest for the Grail, virtually every journey, battle or adventure is stopped dead in its tracks by the knights of the round table's most worldly traits: cowardice, greed, idiocy or misplaced chivalry. As a consequence, instead of epic adventures we are treated with the characters' pragmatic and anachronistic take on each and every event in the Grail legend, true to the purest sitcom tradition.
What it’s like
Flat, even lighting over stone halls and rough wooden tables, with static two-shots and theatre-like staging that lets the dialogue carry the scene, gives this show a modest, almost stagey look. Its sound is a mix of medieval-flavoured incidental music and the constant rhythm of bickering voices, and its feel is dry and deadpan, like sitting in on a group of tired men who would rather be anywhere else. Episodes are short and sketch-like, built around a quest that keeps stalling on petty grievances, cowardice and small talk, so the pace is brisk and conversational rather than epic. Its tone is warm, mocking and often melancholy underneath the jokes, and its central figures change slowly, their pride softened by repeated failure and by an affection that grows between them. Violence is present but comic and mostly offscreen or slapstick in nature, with no gore and little real menace, though the wordplay can be sharp and occasionally crude. It suits a comfort rewatch, background viewing while cooking, or a lazy evening with friends, and it is for viewers who enjoy running gags, absurdist humour and Arthurian legend treated with irreverence.
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