French viewers ridicule cliché-ridden ‘Emily in Paris’

October 10 ------ From “An American in Paris” and “Midnight in Paris” to “Before Sunset”, the French capital has played host to a slew of Hollywood productions. These movies and TV shows have often made Parisians bristle with their blatant lack of realism and easy stereotypes. The latest in line is a new show from Darren Star called “Emily in Paris,” released October 2 on Netflix.

The “Sex and the City” creator has gone all-out in sending Netflix viewers worldwide a picture postcard from the French capital. From haute couture fashion to Michelin-esque meals and spacious offices in Haussmannian buildings, “Emily in Paris” has it all. The show follows the adventures of a bright young executive from Chicago who heads to Paris when her company buys a French marketing agency specializing in the luxury sector.

This expatriation holds all kinds of surprises for the character, played by Lily Collins, not to mention for French viewers. First, there’s the question of her less-than-modest 50-square-meter apartment in a chic neighborhood a stone’s throw from the Panthéon. This kind of apartment would be out of reach for the majority of Parisians, who are all too familiar with the extortionate cost of housing in the city. “How much does she earn? Because with a 30 sq. m. apartment, shopping at Chanel and the dry cleaning costs she must rack up, we’re easily at three times the minimum wage, at least. The salaries of junior marketing executives have changed,” said Pauline, of the Perle ou Navet podcast, on Twitter.

French viewers were just as surprised by the show’s fictitious marketing agency, where Emily works alongside colleagues who are an arrogant, cliché-ridden bunch. While the company’s boss takes the liberty of greeting coworkers with kisses, Emily’s own manager happily puffs away on cigarettes in the comfort of her office — an eccentric Gallic habit outlawed by the country’s Public Health Code since Nov. 15, 2006. “Didn’t anyone tell the screenwriters that no one smokes in offices in France anymore and that CEOs would never kiss a foreigner who comes to work in their firm? These clichés are ridiculous,” said one Twitter user.

Source: entertainment.inquirer.net