National and Postnational Femininity in Engrenages: The Limits of Empowerment

Abstract

AbstractThe French police series Engrenages/Spiral (eight seasons, 2005–2020) achieved international recognition for its ‘gritty’ realism, its attention to the idiosyncrasies of the French criminal justice system and especially for featuring women in the two lead roles: detective Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust) and lawyer Joséphine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot). This chapter explores the two women’s contrasting trajectories, their different attitudes to work ethics and sexuality and the inscription of bodily trauma (motherhood for Laure, rape for Joséphine) on their screen identities. The analysis demonstrates that despite their ostensibly empowered roles, the two female protagonists embody conservative concepts of femininity. It is argued that this sexual stereotyping, alongside a lack of racial diversity, ultimately maintains the series within a national tradition and has limited its postnational reach.