What is Extrapolations, the series on the climate crisis starring Marion Cotillard, worth?

In a report presented in August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that climate change is indeed affecting all regions of the world, at a very rapid pace, and that it is intensifying in an unprecedented way. A more than alarming observation that inspired director Scott Z. Burns (to whom we owe the screenplay of Contagion, which had anticipated the Covid-19 pandemic) the theme of his new series. Just as it had served as a framework for the

Don’t Look Up

: Cosmic Denial
by Adam McKay, released on Netflix in 2021 and starring
Jennifer Lawrence
and
Leonardo DiCaprio
.

Extrapolations, an ambitious Apple TV+ series on ecology

Entitled
Extrapolations
, this dystopian drama series, the first episodes of which are available on Apple TV+ on , features “the influence of climate and technological changes on romantic relationships, religion, work and family, on a personal and human scale”, as the platform explains. In total, eight interconnected episodes are each devoted to a different character. And each of them is confronted with an event related to global warming (pollution, fire, flood) that disrupts their daily lives. We find ourselves in turn in the 2030s or in the 2060s, faced with extreme weather conditions or the disappearance of animal species. As the character played by
Marion Cotillard
says, the history of humanity is a series of disasters. As you can see, we are not really in a comic register… And you will have to be psychologically armed to face the dose of dystopian disasters – Black
Mirror
style – on a large scale or intimate shown by the series.

A 5-star cast with Tahar Rahim and Marion Cotillard

Between the death of the whales, the consciousness uploaded to the Cloud and the inhabitants of Miami forced to live with their feet in the water…
Extrapolations
does not pull any punches in the dystopian register. And often brings out the big apocalyptic hooves… If we would have preferred less caricatures and more subtlety, we must admit that the series has a necessary character in the way it alerts us to the dangers that lie in wait for us if we don’t act today. After watching the first few episodes, you will no longer leave the faucet on while brushing your teeth and you will no longer leave the light on when leaving a room, as if it were Versailles in your apartment.

The greatest strength of this Apple production remains its cast, XXL. It includes indeed Tahar Rahim, one of the most acclaimed French actors of the moment (he will soon play Charles Aznavour in a biopic), in the role of an Algerian diplomat. Marion Cotillard, who is very committed to the climate issue in the media space, also makes an appearance in a vintage dress and acerbic retorts, as well as Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, The Eternals) as an ersatz Elon Musk, Sienna Miller (American Sniper) as a scientist, or the multi-Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, who lends her voice to the last whale on the planet. Forest Whitaker, ‘Edward Norton, recently seen in Glass Onion (2022), Heather Graham and Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) are also in the game. Even if not all the characters are so accomplished, this star-studded audience greatly helps to raise public awareness on the subject of ecology, much better than a long speech…

The first episodes of Scott Z. Burns’ Extrapolations are now available on Apple TV+.