Series Mania 2024: Boarders, an English-style Elite (review)

Broadcast as part of the festival's international competition, this British series aims to dynamite racist clichés and class contempt.

Five black teenagers, from disadvantaged areas of London, win a scholarship and end up at a private English school reserved for the elite, St Gilbert's. Shock of cultures and wallets: among students born with a silver spoon in their mouth, new recruits have a hard time finding their place. To set the atmosphere of this prestigious boarding school, the first scene shows a student urinating on a defenseless homeless person in order to make a viral video… It is therefore a question of the institution restoring its image by opening up – finally – to diversity.

If the scenario necessarily makes you think of Elitethe Spanish series from Netflix, Boarders prefers to play on comedy and a small dose of drama rather than thriller, to tell the story of social discrimination, racism and class contempt well established in St Gilbert's. A rather successful bet thanks to punchy dialogues (where we cite in particular Get Out) and a truly wonderful cast (Josh Tedeku, Jodie Campbell and Myles Kamwendo are among the many revelations).

But the dynamiting of clichés begins to find its limits from the second episode, where the situations seem less natural once the luxurious decor is set. Perhaps also the fault of the 60 minutes format, which artificially stretches the plots a little. It will remain at Boarders four more episodes to completely convince us.

Boarders does not have a French broadcaster at the moment but can be viewed until Monday 2 p.m. on the Séries Mania website.