Day 200 in quarantine and I gobbled up Darren Star’s (of Sex and the City fame) 10 episode stylish comedy-drama in less than a day. Being stuck at home, seeing (and living in) Paris through a young and driven American, Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) who mind you, doesn’t speak French (Gasp! Clutches at pearls) is probably the closest anyone of us is going to get to travelling.
Emily is a last minute replacement which the Chicago Marketing Firm that she works for, sends to the Parisian agency-Savoir, which handles luxury brands, which they recently acquired. Emily is to be the “American Perspective” and social media expert for the very posh Savoir.
C’est la Vie!
Emily doesn’t make a good first impression on her new French colleagues who call her “le plonc” (the hick/redneck/ someone unsophisticated from the province) they resist her ideas and strategies for social media reach and engagement and her boss Sylvie (Philippine Le Roy-Beaulieu) is a less terrifying version of Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, who is determined to see Emily on a plane back to Chicago. Sylvie has a perpetually bored face and always has a cigarette in between her fingers and wears high slit skirts.
Emily works doubly hard to impress her boss and co-workers who continually insult her to her face and gossip and giggle at her, behind her back. Not only does she go to impossible lengths to get on their good side but she must also ensure that she gets clients for their firm and to keep them happy as well.
La vie en Rose
Thankfully, not everyone is a snob and is mean to Emily, she meets Mindy Chen (played by Tony nominated Ashley Park) a disgraced Chinese heiress, working as a Nanny (au pair) in Paris. The two hit if off and Mindy is the kind of girlfriend every girl would want.
The city slowly warms up to Emily, thanks in part to her downstairs neighbor, the handsome chef Gabrielle, who is played by model-actor Lucas Bravo.
Another character worth mentioning is the city itself-Paris!
The series was shot on location and watching it while in quarantine will probably make you miss travelling even more~ but as mentioned, it’s going to be the closest to travelling anyone of us is going to get.
The sights, sounds, the food- you can almost smell it and (oui) even taste it! The fact that it is set in Paris is definitely one of the charms of the series.
Oh la la! OOTD!
Oh and we have to talk about the style and fashion! Patricia Field who was also the costume designer on “Sex and the City” works with Marylin Fitoussi and are responsible for Emily’s gorgeous OOTD ensembles.
Makes you think how she was able to pack all those (different) shoes, hats, coats and whole ensembles from Chicago. No, there is no shopping montage in the series, which is good I think, as it would be an unnecessary cliche.
Enchante’ mon cheri
Much like “Sex and the City” Emily meets a number of handsome men, vying for her affection, now I’ve never been a fan of the “Harem troupe” -even in Anime, where the cute but oftentimes simple-minded (yet, good natured) female lead is surrounded and often fought over by numerous bishounen (handsome youth, boy). Emily for one, never seems to be at a loss for a possible tryst, the question is, if she’s going to give in?
“Emily in Paris” can be silly and a bit cliché at times but it’s the right kind of “silly fluff” and guilty pleasure that we need right now.