It is shameless fantasy, from high heels on cobblestones to sanitised streets free of litter and dog poo, a suspiciously blue River Seine, no homelessness and a main character so cut off from reality that French media refer to her as “the overdressed American”.
But the hugely successful Netflix series Emily in Paris – for all its stereotyping about a Chicago marketing executive’s culture clashes in France – did bring hordes of tourists to the country, boost trade and increase inquiries to estate agents in the capital. So now its departure to Rome for series 5 has become a political issue, with the president, Emmanuel Macron, announcing he’ll fight hard to keep it in France.
Macron told the US showbusiness paper Variety: “We will fight hard. And we will ask them to remain in Paris! Emily in Paris in Rome doesn’t make sense.”
Macron’s wife, Brigitte, a 71-year-old former teacher, has a cameo appearance in the show’s fourth season, in which, during a chance meeting in a restaurant, she says she follows Emily on Instagram. Previously she was mentioned in the first series sharing Emily’s Instagram post about how disappointing it was that the French word for vagina, le vagin, is masculine. Cast members said Brigitte Macron was “so game” to appear and was allowed to improvise and wear her own clothes.
Macron told Variety he was very pleased that his wife had a cameo. “I was super proud, and she was very happy to do it. It’s just a few minutes, but I think it was a very good moment for her.”
He told the magazine: “I think it’s good for the image of France. Emily in Paris is super positive in terms of attractiveness for the country. For my own business, it’s a very good initiative.”
Asked if he had been asked for a cameo himself, he said: “I’m less attractive than Brigitte!”
Emily in Paris season 4, now streaming, takes events to the Italian capital, where the show’s star, played by Lily Collins, seeks new job prospects and romance. When the series was renewed for a fifth season last month, its creators said it would play out between Paris and Rome, with Emily having “a presence” in Italy, expected to involve lots of shots of perfectly polished Vespas speeding past the Colosseum and a similar fantasy vision of Italians.
Darren Star, the creator and showrunner, was quoted saying that the heroine “was becoming very comfortable in Paris. I wanted to throw her into some unfamiliar waters”.
Emily in Paris has been mostly lambasted by French critics for showing Paris in what they say is a falsely glamorous light, but its viewing figures have been good. The series began streaming at the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and became the most popular comedy on Netflix that year. It has consistently appeared on Netflix’s top 10 lists.
“It’s a saccharine series filled with stereotypes, and yet we can’t get ourselves to totally hate it,” said the French culture magazine Telerama when the show first aired.
A study this year for France’s National Centre for Cinema and Animation (CNC) found about 38% of tourists cited the series among their reasons for visiting Paris. The Paris tourist office now suggests a list of 10 key sites to visit where notable scenes were filmed. It is thought that the series sparked a marked increase in online searches about moving to the city.
But Paris city hall has been outspoken about it. David Belliard, the Green deputy mayor in charge of transport and public spaces, and other Green politicians complained last year that the idealised version of Paris in the series was dangerous for the climate crisis, with not enough being shown about green transport options and a dangerous romanticisation of historic apartment buildings that are badly insulated.
