Overview
When Julie begins a new love life, she finds herself sucked into an unusual family and becomes the stepmother of two children, one of whom is Antoine: disabled, autistic, mentally deficient, non-verbal and a high-level epileptic.
Seasons
- Status
- Returning Series
- Seasons
- 2 seasons
- Episodes
- 20 episodes
- First aired
- Dec 31, 2022
Reviews
6 min readThe Stepmother’s Gaze
I keep thinking about the moment Julie first walks into Marc’s apartment. The camera doesn’t rush. It lingers on the details—the half-finished puzzle on the coffee table, the way the light slants through the blinds, the quiet hum of a refrigerator that sounds too loud.
And then there’s Antoine, sitting on the floor, his back to the door, his fingers tracing the edge of a toy car. He doesn’t turn around. He doesn’t need to.
The weight of his presence is already there, pressing against the frame.
À propos d'Antoine is a series that asks a deceptively simple question: What does it mean to love someone you don’t understand? Julie, played by Cathleen Rouleau with a restraint that feels like holding your breath, is a woman stepping into a role she never auditioned for. Stepmother to two children, one of whom is Antoine—a boy described in the show’s own synopsis as "disabled, autistic, mentally deficient, non-verbal and a high-level epileptic."
The language is clinical, almost brutal, but the series itself is anything but. It’s a story about the quiet violence of good intentions, the way love can feel like trespassing, and the slow, aching process of learning to see someone who doesn’t look back.
The first thing that strikes me is how little the series relies on dialogue. Antoine, played by Antoine Parent-Bédard, doesn’t speak. Or rather, he speaks, but not in words.
His language is the tap of his fingers against a surface, the sudden stillness before a seizure, the way his body tenses when the world becomes too much. The show doesn’t subtitle him. It doesn’t need to.
His silence isn’t a void; it’s a presence, one that forces Julie—and the audience—to recalibrate how they listen. There’s a scene in the first season where she tries to read to him, her voice stumbling over the words as Antoine rocks gently in his chair. She stops, frustrated.
He doesn’t react. Or does he? The camera holds on his face, and for a second, his eyes flicker toward her.
It’s the smallest movement, easy to miss. But it’s there. A response.
Not the one she expected, but a response nonetheless.
This is where À propos d'Antoine distinguishes itself from so many other stories about disability. It doesn’t treat Antoine as a problem to be solved or a lesson to be learned. He’s not a plot device.
Audience Opinions
"A heartfelt family drama with emotional depth but limited visibility among viewers."
Feedback on *À propos d'Antoine* is sparse, but early impressions highlight its emotional resonance and focus on family dynamics. latestnetflix.com's take is that Some appreciate its sincerity and character-driven storytelling, though discussions remain minimal, making broader consensus difficult to gauge.
- Emotional depth The series is praised for its sincere portrayal of family relationships and personal struggles.
- Character-driven storytelling Viewers who engaged with the series note its focus on nuanced character development as a strength.
- Limited exposure Few discussions or reviews exist, making it hard to assess widespread reception or flaws.
- Slow pacing Some mention the series takes time to build momentum, which may not appeal to all viewers.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsGaumont bought the remake before a camera rolled. The real Antoine still played himself.
In March 2022, months before Club illico posted a trailer, La Presse reported that Gaumont Television France had already taken remake rights to À propos d'Antoine. Isabelle Degeorges, then heading Gaumont Television France, called the Quebec series "essential" and "a true remedy for gloom." No French remake has since been announced as shot. latestnetflix.com's read is that the original did get made, and that is the version viewers now find on Netflix in some territories.
Cathleen Rouleau wrote it from her own house. She is the stepmother of Antoine Parent-Bédard, the polyhandicapped, non-verbal, high-level epileptic teenager at the center. His father is Sylvain Parent-Bédard, founder of ComediHa! and a producer on the series. Podz (Daniel Grou) directed ten half-hour episodes, shot in the Quebec City region and, per Rouleau, inside Antoine's actual home. Club illico put the trailer out in December 2022 and the series on January 19, 2023. ,
A plan A through D, and a double for seizures
The production story that matters is not a fight. It is a safety plan. Rouleau told France Télévisions they mapped "a plan A, B, C, D and a double too." They were not going to trigger seizures for drama. She was nervous about putting her in-laws on camera. "I wanted to be there at next Christmas," she said. During the shoot, she said Antoine's nighttime seizures dropped, because the house was full of people and he slept hard. Cast members worried about startling him. That is the set gossip, and it is hers.
Claude Legault plays Marc, the CEO dad. Micheline Bernard, Fanny Mallette, and Sylvain Marcel fill the clan. Antoine plays Antoine. Edouard-B. Larocque, as brother Georges, later drew a Young Artists Academy Award nomination, which Amuz Distribution flagged when it licensed the series. Awards that did land include the MIPCOM Diversify TV Award for Representation of Disability in a Scripted Series, Best Francophone Foreign Fiction at the 2023 Festival de la Fiction in La Rochelle, and a Prix Gémeaux for Bernard.
France Télévisions then took the original, not a remake, for france.tv around World Autism Awareness Day in spring 2024. Catherine Gaucher at France.tv said the series treats the subject "with sincerity, accuracy, but also with humour." The Gaumont deal from 2022 still sits in the file with no public shoot date. Until someone publishes a cast list for Paris, treat the remake as a rights headline, not a production. ,
The English-subtitled trailer still circulating is the Club illico pitch. Julie falls in love, inherits two kids, and one of them is Antoine. Rouleau's line from the press kit is the thesis she wanted exported. "Antoine changed my life, and I hope he changes that of the whole world." ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.