Every week, Netflix unveils its Top 10 lists for the week before, ranking TV shows and movies by viewership. This week, the top film on the non-English language list is Exterritorial, an action-packed German-language film starring actress Jeanne Goursaud, whom you might recognize from the hit series Barbarians.
Barbarians, which ran for two seasons, was a historical drama taking place around 9 A.D. as Germanic warriors fought against the Roman Empire. Goursaud starred in that series as Thusnelda, the daughter of a prince who helps stage an uprising to prevent the Romans from taking over her people’s land. The series proved Goursaud could deftly juggle drama, romance and action — her character even sacrifices one of her eyes, cutting it out so she can become a seer, a prophet of sorts to advise her fellow warriors in their fight. The show developed a devoted following, and the fact that it was neverconfirmed to be canceled has left some wondering if the door is stillopen to future seasons.
Given Barbarians’ strong fan base and the show’s likely end, Goursaud’s return to Netflix in Exterritorial is a welcome one, and she is making a case for herself as a major action star in the process. The movie takes place at the US Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, and Goursaud plays Sara Wulf, an ex-Special Forces soldier who served in Afghanistan. When Sara’s son mysteriously disappears while they’re inside the consulate building applying for a visa, she realizes there’s a conspiracy underway, and she uses her special training to fight her way through the building and locate her son.
The film is an action-thriller where Goursaud gets to have some fun with some seriously choreographed John Wick-style fight scenes, combined with the mother-on-a-mission vibes of Jodie Foster in Flightplan or Jennifer Lopez in The Mother. Films like John Wick, (or Nobody, Wrath of Man, or Love Hurts… I could go on) which feature the highly trained fighter resurfacing some old skills to seek vengeance and kick butt feel like a dime a dozen these days. That doesn’t mean they’re not fun to watch, but Goursaud manages to differentiate herself here because she’s a woman in the main role for one thing, and, because while many of those other revenge tales let viewers know early on why our hero is seeking revenge, Exterritorial doesn’t fill us in on why Sara’s son has gone missing — or whether she gets him back — until the end. It’s as much a mystery as it is a fighting frenzy, which is one reason the film has remained in the number one position for non-English films all week and has even usurped Tom Hardy’s HAVOC in the No. 1 spot for English-language movies.
It takes a lot to knock a major star like Hardy off his pedestal, but Exterritorial’s mix of suspense and intense action has done it, and Goursaud deserves a lot of credit for the film’s success. While she seems like an unlikely action hero, she has clearly proven herself to a wide audience. But Barbarians already knew she could do it.