| Genre: | Soap opera |
| Theme Music Composer: | Maidi Roth |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Num Seasons: | 18 |
| Num Episodes: | 4665 + 29 specials |
| Executive Producer: | Hubert Besson, Telfrance |
| Location: | Marseille, France |
| Runtime: | 24 minutes |
Plus belle la vie (More beautiful life) is a French television soap opera based on an idea by Hubert Besson and characters created by Georges Desmouceaux, Bénédicte Achard, Magaly Richard-Serrano and Olivier Szulzynger. On air from 30 August 2004 18 November 2022, it was shown on France 3 on Monday to Friday evenings at 8:15 p.m. The show began with 17 main actors and gained more later.[1]
On 11 July 2008, France 3 broadcast its 1000th episode, a milestone in French television. The series set a second record on 8 June 2012, airing its 2000th episode. On 22 April 2016, it broadcast its 3000th episode, and on 21 February 2020, its 4000th.
The series follows the daily lives of the inhabitants of "Le Mistral", a fictional neighbourhood in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, where wealthy and less than wealthy families co-exist. It focuses on their evolving love lives and friendships evolve and on the criminal intrigues in which certain residents of the neighbourhood are involved.
| Actor | Character | Seasons | |
| Colette Renard | Rachel Lévy | seasons 1–5 | |
| Cécilia Hornus | Blanche Marci | seasons 1–18 | |
| Sylvie Flepp | Mirta Torres | seasons 1–18 | |
| Hélène Médigue | Charlotte Le Bihac | seasons 1–5 | |
| Serge Dupire | Vincent Chaumette | seasons 1–18 | |
| Michel Cordes | Roland Marci | seasons 1–18 | |
| Thierry Ragueneau | François Marci | seasons 1–2, 8 & 17–18 | |
| Pierre Martot | Léo Castelli | seasons 1–9 & 12–18 | |
| Rebecca Hampton | Céline Frémont | seasons 1–18 | |
| Geoffrey Sauveaux | Lucas Marci | seasons 1–2 & 18 | |
| Dounia Coesens | Johanna Marci | seasons 1–10, 14–15 & 18 | |
| Ambroise Michel | Rudy Torres | seasons 1–10 & 18 | |
| Aurélie Vaneck | Ninon Chaumette | seasons 1–10, 16 & 18 | |
| Sofiane Belmouden | Malik Nassri | seasons 1–4 | |
| Ibtissem Guerda | Aicha Djellal | season 1 | |
| Lætitia Milot | Mélanie Rinato | seasons 1–14 | |
| Richard Guedj | Charles-Henri Picmal | seasons 1–2 & 7 | |
| Alexandre Pottier | Antoine Frémont | season 1 | |
| Juliette Chêne | Juliette Frémont | seasons 1–4 & 8 | |
| Virgile Bayle | Guillaume Leserman | seasons 1–13 | |
| Anne Décis | Luna Torres | seasons 1–18 | |
| Alexandre Fabre | Charles Frémont | seasons 1–18 | |
| Laurent Kerusoré | Thomas Marci | seasons 1–18 | |
| Thibaud Vaneck | Nathan Leserman | seasons 1–8 & 10–18 |
| Actor | Character | Seasons | - | Samia Nassri | seasons 1–18 | |
| Jean-François Leroux | seasons 2–12 | |||||
| Agathe Robin | season 2–6, 8 & 18 | |||||
| Véra Madigan | seasons 2–5 | |||||
| Jean-Baptiste Gauthier | seasons 2–4 | |||||
| Estelle Cantorel | seasons 3–18 | |||||
| Franck Ruiz | seasons 3–6 and 11–18 | |||||
| Florian Estève | seasons 3–7 & 14 | |||||
| Benoît Cassagne | seasons 4–14 | |||||
| Jean-Paul Boher | seasons 4–18 | |||||
| Wanda Legendre | seasons 4–13 | |||||
| Coline d'Inca | Sybille Cassagne | seasons 4–9 & 18 | ||||
| Raphaël Cassagne | seasons 4–8 | |||||
| Djawad Sangha | seasons 5–14 & 18 | |||||
| Abdel Fedala | seasons 5–18 | |||||
| Barbara Évenot | seasons 5–18 | |||||
| Karim Fedala | seasons 5–18 | |||||
| Josiane Laval | season 5 | |||||
| Violette Garcin | season 6 | |||||
| Anémone Vitreuil | seasons 6–7 & 9–18 | |||||
| Elsa Bailly | seasons 7–18 | |||||
| Gabriel Riva | seasons 7–18 | |||||
| Sacha Malkavian | seasons 7–18 | |||||
| Jonas Malkavian | seasons 7–12 | |||||
| Stéphane Prieur | seasons 8–14 | |||||
| Seta Malkavian | seasons 8–13 & 15–17 | |||||
| Coralie Blain | seasons 8–15 | |||||
| Stéphanie Pareja | Jeanne Carmin | seasons 8–18 | ||||
| Babeth Nebout | seasons 8–18 | |||||
| Patrick Nebout | seasons 9–18 | |||||
| Principal Rochat | seasons 9–18 | |||||
| Céline Vitcoq | Wendy Lesage | seasons 9–13 | ||||
| Ariane Hersant | seasons 13–18 | |||||
| Marie-Christine Walter | seasons 16 |
The series struggled to find its footing in the first season, but after striving to create more dynamic story lines, by the second season Plus belle la vie enjoyed regular audiences of five million viewers. On Valentine's Day 2006, a plot involving Nicolas Barrel's death drew an audience of 6,329,600.[2] On 17 November 2008 Plus belle la vie received its highest ratings ever with over 6.8 million viewers and a 24.9% audience share.[3]
For several years, the series regularly averaged audiences in excess of 5 million viewers and audience shares above 20% each weekday evening.[4] In recent seasons, its viewing numbers have gradually declined.
This ratings slump worsened at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and, on 5 May 2022, France Télévisions announced the end of the series which took place on 18 November 2022, following "a substantial shift in viewing habits" after 18 years on air.[5]