The 7 Lives of Lea (French: Les 7 vies de Léa) is a French supernatural drama that premiered on Netflix in April 2022. Based on the novel Les 7 vies de Léo Belami by Natael Trapp, the show revolves around Lea, a 17-year-old girl who stumbles upon the body of Ismael, a boy who disappeared thirty years ago in mysterious circumstances. The next morning she wakes up in Ismael's body in the year 1991, days before the latter's death. Over the course of the next week, waking up in a new body in the past every morning (and then returning to her present to relive the corresponding day thirty years later), Lea must navigate the tangle of relationships surrounding Ismael and possibly find a way to save him.
The 7 Lives of Lea provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Pye's father is a classic example. He is physically and emotionally abusive towards teenage Pye in 1991, and in 2021 he continues to mentally harass and degrade a 40-something Pye.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lea succeeds in altering history, saving Ismael's life. However, in doing so, she erases herself from existence. It is implied that her would-be parents could end up leading happier and more fulfilled lives in the new timeline - Karine because she was able to go to music school in London, and Stephane because he could finally come out of the closer.
- Bookends: The first and last person Lea possesses in 1991 is Ismael.
- Closet Gay: Lea's father, Stephane, who's been hiding his sexuality for over thirty years. It's implied to be the root cause of his unhappy marriage with Karine in 2021. Lea's intervention in 1991 ultimately causes Stephane to come out as a teenager to Karine and end his romantic relationship with her, which leads to Lea being erased from existence.
- Exactly Exty Years Ago: The story is primarily set from June 15 to June 21 in 1991 and 2021, with Lea alternatively living through the same day thirty years apart.
- Kid from the Future: On her trips to 1991, Lea ends up meeting (and sometimes possessing) her parents, Karine and Stephane. Played with in that neither of them ends up seeing her real body or even discover who she is.
- Mental Time Travel: Overlaps with Body Surf. Lea time-travels by possessing the bodies of other people in 1991. Every night, when she goes to sleep, she wakes up the next morning in the past in a new body. She lives through the day in 1991 and when she goes to sleep, she wakes up again in 2021 to relive the same day thirty years later.
- Mrs. Robinson: Patricia the 40-something record store owner who's been having an affair with the teenage Ismael.
- Ret-Gone: At the end of episode 3, Lea discovers that she accidentally erased Dora from existence in 2021 through her interference in 1991. On her next trip to the past, she is able to get Dora's parents together, thus restoring her to existence in the present.
- Ultimately happens to Lea in the finale - by saving Ismael's life in the past, she alters the course of her parents' lives, thus preventing her future birth.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Lea has this as a consequence of her Mental Time Travel. In episode 3 she's the only one in 2021 who remembers Dora after the latter was erased.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Lea spends most of her time in the past across her many "lives" trying to save Ismael and prevent his death on World Music Day (June 21st) 1991.
- In episode 4 Lea has a different mission - she must restore Dora to existence in 2021, having inadvertently erased her on her last trip to the past, by getting her parents Jennifer and Luc together in 1991.
- Write Back to the Future: In episode 3 Lea, while in Pye's body in 1991, says "Hey Romane" to Stephane's camera. Later, in episode 6, while watching Stephane's tapes, Romane hears "Pye" mentioning her name in thirty-year old footage, and this is what convinces her that Lea's stories about time-travel and possessing other people are true.
