René Magritte, Salvador Dali and Man Ray walk into a bar… It’s a joke I’d like to hear, and the new six-part TV series This is Not a Murder Mystery goes some way to fulfilling this desire. Unfortunately for Magritte, it’s no joke – in the first five minutes, he wakes up next to a dead woman. “Why don’t you arrest the Belgian?” asks Mrs Dali of the detectives who arrived to investigate. “He’s done it, I’m sure. He gives me the creeps, that fellow.”
And so starts a classic whodunnit, but with an unconventional cast of characters – the most famous artists of the Surrealist period. Or they would be anyway. In 1936, when the series is set, they were in various stages of their careers and gathering at Lord James’s West Sussex castle for an exhibition that will seal their fates as global masters of the art genre taking the world by storm.
“What I liked most about this concept was also the biggest challenge – the idea that you can spend time with these artists, with these people you only know as icons,” Hans Herbots, who directed or co-directed all six episodes, tells The Brussels Times. “You can see how they might have been in real life – when they are accused, when they are under pressure, when they are scared. And we do this when they are young and searching for their own identities and own styles.”
The English-language This is Not a Murder Mystery is currently airing on VRT 1, and all six episodes can already be binged on Proximus Pickx and VRT Max (with Dutch subtitles) and RTL Play (with French subtitles) from November 17.
Heavyweight helmer
The series was dreamed up by Belgian screenwriters Christophe Dirickx, Paul Baeten and director Matthias Lebeer, working with Antwerp production company Panenka. They pulled Herbots on board because they needed a heavyweight to put investors at ease.
The award-winning Belgian director has made dozens of local and international TV series, most recently the British open seas thriller No Escape, the French/British action-drama Paris Has Fallen and the UK-produced, Thailand-set The Serpent, the story of real-life 1970s serial killer Charles Sobhraj.
Until now, the 1970s have been the furthest in the past that one of Herbots’ series has taken place. This is Not a Murder Mystery plunges him into deeper period piece territory. “The 1930s do feel very different,” he says. Despite his vast experience, he learned a great deal about shooting the past, he says, particularly when it comes to costuming.
Director Hans Herbots (right). Credit: Panenka
“I discovered for the first time how you can really create a character by changing little things – like Magritte’s hairline. We brought it down a bit with this little front hairpiece. I didn’t even know that existed. Shadows drawn onto a face, a false nose, body alterations. But mainly hair. It’s amazing how hair can change your appearance.”
And what hair. In the series, Magritte has a gorgeous head of it, all blond and wavy, shocks of it dipping over his forehead like a California surfer. This 30-something Magritte is played by Belgian actor Pierre Gervais, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the real Magritte could never have been this impossibly handsome (those cheekbones!).
But Magritte was quite a looker in his younger years, and Herbots emphasises that he and the casting directors set out to match the actors with the look of the artists they represent. Although matching had as much to do with their vibe as their look.
“In that first conversation, you can feel who they are,” Herbots says. “Their personalities are more important than how they look. You can alter the way they look, but – even when they’re acting – a personality always comes through. It wouldn’t have worked if Magritte came off as a big extrovert or if Dali was shy.”
Casting countries
I spoke to Herbots in the VIP lounge at Kinepolis, set up as part of Gent Film Fest, Belgium’s largest film festival. It is here that the first two episodes of This is Not a Murder Mystery aired, a world premiere. Ticketholders heard from not only Herbots but the international cast. In a smart move, Herbots and casting directors chose actors of the same nationality as the characters.
So a Spaniard plays Dali, an American Man Ray, a Belgian Magritte. Rounding out our cast of Surrealist period artists – or “gang of lunatics,” according to one inspector – are German painter Max Ernst and American photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller.
From left, René Magritte - Lee Miller - Man Ray - Max Ernst - Gala Dalí - Salvador Dalí. Credit: Panenka / Ilias Van Bambost
“I thought it was important to be as authentic as possible with the nationalities,” Herbots says. “It’s based on historical events. If you have an English guy playing a German, it’s jarring. It might have been easier to sell it to a streamer if it was all Americans playing the parts, but it would lose too much of what makes it real.”
So how much of the series is real? Filmmakers did watch footage, read essays and conduct the research needed to bring these artists – and in the case of Dali and Magritte, their wives – to life as accurately as they could. In terms of the “historical events”, there really was a Lord James, and he did invite all of these people to his estate, called West Dean House.
A patron of the Surrealist arts, Edward James hosted groundbreaking site-specific exhibitions that were instrumental in turning the artists into household names. It is Lord James who features in Magritte’s famous painting Not to Be Reproduced. “In 1936, all of these artists were there,” notes Herbots. “Not all of them together in one week, but most of them, and then some at a different time. Dali’s Lip Sofa was created while he was there.”
Magritte myth
The series begins with the recreation of a popular story: that a 13-year-old Magritte was present along the River Sambre at Châtelet when his mother’s body was pulled from the water, and the vision of her nightdress covering her face would forever recur in his work, most notably the four paintings known as The Lovers.
“There are two versions of the story,” says Herbots. “I’ve read articles where they say that it was absolutely true.” Magritte himself said that he was not there, I helpfully point out. “He did say that. But I’m not sure if that’s true. There is a biography of him that says he was there. In any case, I like the idea that we could incorporate the story that he saw this strong image with strong emotions connected to it.” He pauses. “Maybe I just want it to be true.”
Salvador Dali cutting lobster in the This is Not a Murder Mystery series by VRT. Credit: Panenka
The concept, in any case, is put to good use, as the killer in This is Not a Murder Mystery arranges the murders to resemble paintings – Magritte’s The Lovers II being the first. It’s a clever conceit, and one that spurs Magritte to turn amateur sleuth to help investigators find the culprit.
Every episode of The is Not a Murder Mystery is followed by This is Not Fiction, a short segment that lays out the truth of what you have just seen – and what is pure fabrication. But in the end, it might just be a good idea to embrace the very notion of Surrealism when watching. It’s hard to imagine that the actual Surrealists would find fault with personifications of them as distorted, symbolic or overly-emotional – the central ethos of their work.
And funny. Surrealism requires a strong sense of irony to appreciate, and the one-liners pack a wallop. In one delicious scene where we see the origins of Dali’s signature Lobster Telephone, Man Ray says to him: “You’re up early. Intrusive thoughts?” to which Dali replies: “The only thoughts I know.”
It’s also delightful to see details such as Magritte carrying The Treachery of Images casually under his arm, the origin of his bowler hat, Man Ray using Lee Miller as a lip model for his own famous painting called The Lovers (which he in fact painted in the wake of their real-life separation), and the very beginning of the legendary Salvador Dali moustache in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment close to the end.
Eight broadcasters
This is Not a Murder Mystery is the first series released by New8, a collaboration among eight European public broadcasters, including Flanders’ VRT. “They all put their money on the table, but there is always one broadcaster who takes the lead on a series,” explains Herbots. “In this case, that was VRT.” It is the first series in English that the VRT has ever commissioned.
This is Not a Murder Mystery was filmed at Curraghmore House & Gardens in Portlaw, Ireland
It was also partially shot in Belgium, with gardens in both the Ghent and Waleffe areas serving as part of the massive West Dean estate, and the bedrooms coming from the Heks Castle in Limburg. Locals will also recognise a greenhouse from the Meise Botanic Garden. The real West Dean House is now a college of arts and craft, so much of the series was shot at Curraghmore House & Gardens in Portlaw, Ireland.
“We were in Ireland for two-and-a-half months,” says Herbots. “The cast hung out, went for drinks together, took walks around the estate. It generated trust among them, which is kind of unusual. Usually, when I work in the UK, it feels more like a business. People come to work and are well prepared and do their best, but it stays a very individual thing. Something we Belgians are good at is creating an atmosphere of collaboration. That starts to work on every level, and I think part of the charm of the series has to do with that.”
