08/27/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/27/2026 10:51
Synopsis: Paolo lives a simple yet fulfilling life in a small provincial town, moving pianos by day and planning a wedding with his fiancée Winnie in his spare time. After a chance encounter, Paolo finds himself attending a campaign event for his former classmate Téophane Tolbiac, an ambitious and magnetic local politician on the rise. But what begins as a commitment to Téophane's campaign soon spirals as Paolo's world is upended by his all-consuming desire to be part of the hopeful mayor's inner circle. A gritty and spellbinding thriller, Paolo is an unflinching look at how easily the lines can blur between admiration and obsession.
Paolo immerses viewers in the claustrophobic world of a provincial town in turmoil, where transgression, class anxieties, power games and deception collide.
At the heart of the series is a captivating face-off between Jérôme Niel, delivering a powerful performance as Paolo, an ordinary man caught in a relentless downward spiral, and Yoann Gasiorowski (Comédie-Française), magnetic as Téophane, the embodiment of a success story that is as dazzling as it is ambiguous.
Joining them is an outstanding ensemble cast including Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Marie Oppert (Comédie-Française), Léo Chalié, Véronique Ruggia, Guslagie Malanda, Salif Cissé, Françoise Lebrun, as well as Léa Lopez (Comédie-Française), Philippe Katerine, Guilaine Londez, David Ayala and Cyril Metzger.
PAOLO is a French HBO Max Original series created, written and directed by Sébastien Marnier (Faultless, The Origin of Evil, The King's Children), co-written with Juliette Soubrier and produced by Floriane Cortes and Gaspard de Chavagnac (Mintee Productions, Asacha Media Group, a Fremantle company).
The seven-episode thriller is a sharp and gripping exploration of power, fascination and obsession, examining with remarkable precision the forces that drive individuals towards self-destruction.