Why many French have come to like “Emily in Paris”
Even if they may not want to admit it
When Netflix released the first season of “Emily in Paris” in 2020, French critics ridiculed the American-made drama for its Instagrammable clichés and vacuous plot. The series was “a fantasised vision disconnected from reality”, sniffed Le Parisien, a newspaper. “No cliché is spared,” wrote Première, a film magazine, including that “the French are all mean and all lazy” and “incorrigible flirts”. A critic for Le Monde, Parisians’ highbrow bible, finished viewing the first season feeling queasy, “as if I had eaten all the macaroons in the box by myself”. In America “Emily in Paris” was nominated for Emmy awards and Golden Globes; there were no such accolades in France.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “An unlikely romance”
Culture September 14th 2024
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From the September 14th 2024 edition
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