← Binge

All the Light We Cannot See (2023)

2023 · Drama,History,War · war-historical, historical-period

All the Light We Cannot See poster

A four-part Netflix limited series adapting Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning WWII novel, following a blind French girl and a young German radio operator whose fates converge in occupied St Malo. The show is a visually sumptuous, emotionally earnest prestige production — lavish in period detail, elevated by a breakthrough performance from blind actress Aria Loberti and a reliable turn from Louis Hoffmann (known from Dark). Its emotional register is elegiac and bittersweet, more concerned with the cost of war on individuals than geopolitical sweep. Primarily loved by readers of the source novel and viewers who prize emotional sincerity over structural complexity.

From the reviewers

The casting of a blind actress really made the whole thing come together.
It would have been exponentially better if it had been done in French and German . That is one of my biggest issues in media in general is veering away from true languages in order to put in English with accents . Language is culture , culture is story telling , story telling is history
The biggest thing missed out because if all that is how important the language barrier was there, both historically and in the source material but someone made an ill-advised decision to have everyone speak English instead of going with what would have been an excellent subtitled series
I have absolutely no idea why the hell they put Mark Ruffalo in this. He is neither French, nor German, and speaks with a terrible British accent. You could easily find a multi-lingual actor (Christoph Waltz as a popular example) who could easily take that same role and blow it out of the water.
The dialogue at times was just plain bad. Things were said two or three times that should not have been said at all - like the audience was too stupid to understand unless they spelled things out explicitly.

Explore all 293 prestige TV dramas on Binge →

The Curator's Index

Binge.

Curated Prestige Streaming

Opening up shop.

← Sightlines · the film atlas
Binge.

Curated Prestige Streaming

Find shows to watch based on real reviewer language. No collaborative filtering, no popularity boost. Your taste is the only algorithm here.

The collection

— shows

Browse the library. Filter by sub-genre, register, era, or popularity tier. Click a show to see its full characterization.

—