It’s time to take off your beret to taste croissants at the foot of the Eiffel Tower: Emily in Paris, the most Parisian series in the United States, returns this Wednesday to Netflix with a third season. To the delight of the international public, who loves to dream in front of his Paris postcard.
Because this fiction, which follows the friendly, professional and sentimental adventures of a young publicist from Chicago transferred to the French capital, has established itself in a few years as one of the flagships of the streaming giant.
It was the most-watched comedy series on the platform in 2020, the heroine played by Lily Collins’ luxe suits was enough to fuel searches for Chanel merchandise, and some businesses featured on the series suddenly benefited from a new look. popularity.
Season 2, released at the end of 2021, had transformed the trial: Netflix, which does not hesitate to stop series in the middle of a plot when they do not get satisfactory figures, had announced after this second barrage thatEmily in Paris would get two more seasons. Passing through the capital, the Franco-American cast confided to BFMTV the reasons for this international success.
• The series was created by a genius of the small screen
Even before its release, Emily in Paris benefited from the most beautiful of business cards: that of the name of Darren Star, the creator of the series, the man behind cult shows like Beverly Hills, Melrose Place Where sex and the city. For Lucas Bravo, the interpreter of Gabriel, such a television genius could only charm the public:
“Darren has the magic recipe for creating imaginary bubbles where you feel good. You want to get on the screen, spend time with the characters. Create a family. He’s the king of escape and entertainment.”
“Melrose Place it was a series that begins in a small building in Los Angeles,” recalls Filipina Leroy-Beaulieu. The one who embodies Sylvie, the boss so Parisian -and a bit tyrannical- Emily, remember this television phenomenon of the 90s.
“There are only young people, they all look very cute, and by the end of the second or third season they all become psychopaths,” he recalls. “It’s the darkest human nature that comes to light. Darren’s great talent is that, and to be able to do that, you have to start with something very light.”
what does not prevent Emily in Paris to offer “initiation stories” to its viewers, hidden under what Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu calls “the chocolate” of this dream life: “In this season 3, Emily wreaks havoc by deciding not to make a decision absolutely wanting to do good, she decides not to choose and hurts everyone (…) There are reflections that are interesting.
• The Paris of a postcard still inspires dreams
“Audrey Hepburn said in one of her movies that ‘Paris is always a good idea,’” recalls French actor William Abadie, who plays Antoine. Especially the Paris ofEmily in Paris, whose cameras rarely stray from the luxury of central neighborhoods. It is a City of Light composed exclusively of old stones, blue-tiled roofs and ultra-selective social evenings that Netflix presents to its subscribers.
If the Café de Flore is a dream even on the other side of the Atlantic, this fantasized Paris has often made people tremble in our regions: “No cliché is spared, not even the most needy”, it has thus irritated First at the season 1 launch. “You have to really love sci-fi” to watch the series, ironically on his part Critical sense.
“Emily in Paris it is a fairy tale”, assumes Filipina Leroy-Beaulieu. “Taking things literally, as if the only valid cinema were naturalist cinema, is a mistake.”
Bruno Gouery lends his features to Luc, Emily’s French colleague who takes her under his wing when the capital makes him homesick. The one who “grew up in the suburbs” humorously underlines a certain paradox:
“A lot of people always said, ‘People always portray the suburbs in a negative light, but it’s not just that!’ Today, I’m in a series where people say, ‘Paris isn’t that! Not everything is positive!’ There’s one thing I’m sure of: if it works so well, it’s because the cliché resonates with people all over the world. What if Darren Star had seen things we don’t see anymore?”
“Foreigners come to us more than Parisians”, underlines Filipina Leroy-Beaulieu. “What is very nice are the tourists. they come around Emily in Paris (organized since last year, editor’s note), and when they see a character from the series on the street, it obviously drives them a little crazy. I find it very endearing.”
• The first season dropped at the right time
Emily, her expensive dresses, her splendid lovers and her dream Paris took over the screens in October 2020. A very special period in which the entire world was just beginning to recover from the shock of the months of confinement.
While the health threat and the possibility of a new confinement weighed on everyone, the ingenious young woman arrived at the right time to offer a respite to Netflix viewers.
“Everyone needed lightness, to breathe,” says Bruno Gouery. “Emily in Paris It’s first and foremost an exciting, positive show, and I think we came at a time when people needed it. That’s what they tell me on the street.”
“Only in terms of fashion!” adds Camille Razat, who lends her features and first name to her character. “Everyone wanted to see beauty, lightness. Even I, as a spectator, was happy. After running every day…”
Source: BFM TV
