Emily in Paris Information

Emily in Paris is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Darren Star, which premiered on Netflix on October 2, 2020. The series stars Lily Collins as the eponymous Emily, an American who moves to Paris to provide an American point of view to a French marketing firm. There, she struggles to succeed in the workplace while searching for love and experiencing a couture clash with her "boring" and mundane Midwestern U.S. upbringing. It also stars Ashley Park, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lucas Bravo, Samuel Arnold, Camille Razat, and Bruno Gouery. In November 2020, the series was renewed for a second season by Netflix.

Premise

Emily in Paris follows Emily, a driven 20-something American from Chicago who moves to Paris for an unexpected job opportunity. She is tasked with bringing an American point of view to a venerable French marketing firm. Cultures clash as she adjusts to the challenges of life in Paris while juggling her career, new friendships and love life.

Cast and characters

Main

• Lily Collins as Emily Cooper, a 20-something American who moves from Chicago to Paris for a social media strategy job at Savoir.
• Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu as Sylvie, Emily's tough French boss at Savoir in Paris
• Ashley Park as Mindy Chen, a nanny and Emily's first friend in Paris
• Lucas Bravo as Gabriel, Emily's attractive downstairs neighbor, who is a chef and Emily's love interest
• Samuel Arnold as Julien, Emily's co-worker, trendy and high drama, he plays a funny duo with Luc
• Bruno Gouery as Luc, Emily's quirky other co-worker, he plays a humorous duo with Julien
• Camille Razat as Camille, Emily's new friend and Gabriel's girlfriend

Recurring

• Kate Walsh as Madeline Wheeler, Emily's American boss in Chicago who cannot take the job in Paris after learning that she is pregnant
• William Abadie as Antoine Lambert, Emily's client who owns a perfume company called Maison Lavaux and is having an affair with Sylvie
• Arnaud Viard as Paul Brossard, the owner of Savoir

Guest

• Roe Hartrampf as Doug, Emily's boyfriend in Chicago.
• Charley Fouquet as Catherine Lambert, Antoine's wife
• Eion Bailey as Randy Zimmer a well-known hotel owner
• Jean-Christophe Bouvet as Pierre Cadault, a famous flamboyant French designer and uncle of Mathieu
• Charles Martins as Mathieu Cadault, business man who becomes a love interest of Emily
• Aleksandra Yermak as Klara, representative of Hstens, a Swedish luxury bed maker
• Julien Floreancig as Thomas, a French snob, philosophy professor
• Carlson Young as Brooklyn Clark, a young and famous American actress
• Elizabeth Tan as Li, Mindy's best friend who has brought her five bridesmaids to Paris to shop for her bride's dress
• Victor Meutelet as Timothe, the younger brother of Camille
• Camille Japy as Louise, Camille's mother
• Christophe Guybet as Gerard, Camille's father
• David Prat as Tho, Camille's other brother
• Faith Prince as Judith Robertson, a member of The American Friends of the Louvre
• Claude Perron as Patricia
• Isaiah Hodges as one of the two Grey Space designers
• Christophe Tek as one of the two Grey Space designers

Episodes

|ShortSummary    = Emily"?s boss Madeline prepares to make the transition from the Chicago based pharmaceutical marketing firm, the Gilbert Group, to a French based fashion firm, Savoir, when she discovers that she is pregnant. Savoir offers the job to Emily and she accepts,  leaving her boyfriend back in Chicago. Emily moves to Paris despite the fact that she does not speak French. She moves into the 5th floor of an old apartment building without an elevator but with a wonderful Parisian view. Emily creates an Instagram account, @emilyinparis, and begins documenting her time in Paris. Emily starts her first day of work much to her new co-workers chagrin who reveal that she was only hired because of a business deal. She introduces the French to American social media strategies who seem very reluctant about her and her American methods. Emily accidentally tries to enter the wrong apartment and meets her very attractive neighbor, Gabriel. As Emily accustoms to life in Paris she makes countless faux-pas and the firm nicknames her "la plouc"? or "the hick"?. Emily meets Mindy Chen, a nanny originally from Shanghai, and they become fast friends. After Emily and her boyfriend attempt to have cybersex but the connection fails, she plugs in her vibrator and accidentally short-circuits the block's power.
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|ShortSummary    =  Emily joins Sylvie and Julien on a visit to the atelier of haute couturier Pierre Cadault. Pierre is mortified by the gauche charm on Emily's handbag and calls her a "basic bitch" in French, which hinders her credibility in the firm. At Caf de Flore, Emily meets Thomas, a French philosophy professor. They hit it off and she invites him back to her apartment and they have sex. Emily and Thomas encounter Gabriel and Camille, and Camille invites them to join them at a tapas restaurant. Thomas and Gabriel do not get along. The next day, Gabriel tells Emily he thinks Thomas is a snob, and not worthy of her. Emily discovers Pierre has designed the costumes for Swan Lake so she invites Thomas to join her. However, he insults her by telling her Swan Lake is a ballet for tourists. Emily realizes that he is a snob so she leaves him. She sees Pierre at the ballet so she walks into his private box to talk to him so he will remain with Savoir.

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|ShortSummary    = Camille invites Emily to lunch and asks if Savoir could take on her family's champagne vineyard as a client. Mindy's friend and her five bridesmaids are in Paris for wedding dress shopping. Camille invites Emily to meet her family at their chateau. Gabriel surprises Emily by joining them for the weekend trip which makes Emily uncomfortable. Emily takes a tour of the winery and meets Camille's younger brother Timothe. Gabriel refuses Camille's mother's offer of a business loan. At a club where Mindy's girlfriends are partying, they force her on stage to sing the song she flubbed on Chinese Popstar. Back at the chateau, Camille and her mother are arguing so Emily takes refuge by the pool where she is joined by Timothe. They drink champagne and eventually have sex. At breakfast, she learns that Timothe is not the brother Camille was referring to, instead, it was her younger, 17-year-old brother. Emily meets Tho, Camille's older and more age appropriate brother. Emily finally gets an opportunity to pitch her idea to Camille's mother.

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|ShortSummary    = Sylvie is unimpressed with Emily's idea to market Camille's family's champagne. Emily meets Judith Robertson who is a member of the American Friends of the Louvre (AFL). She is aware of Emily's association with Pierre Cadault and asks if Pierre might be willing to donate a dress to be auctioned at AFL's fundraising benefit. Emily calls Mathieu Cadault to arrange a meeting so she can ask him about the dress donation. They agree to meet at an art opening at Camille's gallery. Sylvie and Luc also arrive at the opening to meet Camille. At the AFL auction, Grey Space, which consists of two avant-garde fashion designers, show up and bid for Pierre's dress. As Emily models the dress on stage, Grey Space shoots her with paint as a publicity stunt which shocks the audience. The next day, the stunt is featured in all the newspapers and online. Pierre is despondent and takes to his bed. Emily visits him to try and positively spin the incident, but to no avail. As she leaves Pierre's home, she runs into Mathieu who makes a pass at her.

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|ShortSummary    = Mathieu takes Emily on a date. A boat cruise on the Seine, then shows her the view of Paris from his apartment, their date is interrupted by a call from Pierre who is threatening to cancel his fashion show. Pierre is holed up in his atelier and won't show his new collection to anyone. Sylvie blames Emily for shaking Pierre's confidence and fires her. Emily's co-workers inform her that in France it can be a long, arduous process to fire an employee. To realize his dream of opening his own restaurant, Gabriel decides to move back to Normandy.   The next day Emily is called by Mathieu about the situation and tells her that Pierre has requested to see her. Sylvie overhears this and goes with Emily to see Pierre. At the atelier, they see a dress from Pierre's new collection. Pierre orders Mathieu to find him a new venue. Mindy agrees to emcee and sing at a drag bar two nights a week, but when she tells her employers, they fire her so she  moves in with Emily. In need of a venue to launch his fashion show, Pierre hijacks the outside of his former venue to show his new look dress collection which the audience loves and makes him the toast of Fashion Week. To celebrate, Emily hosts a dinner at Gabriel's restaurant for Mathieu and Pierre.

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Production

Development

On September 5, 2018, it was announced that Paramount Network had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of 10 episodes. The series was created by Darren Star, who was also expected to serve as an executive producer alongside Tony Hernandez. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Jax Media. On July 13, 2020, it was reported that the series would move from Paramount Network to Netflix. On November 11, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.

Casting

On April 3, 2019, Lily Collins was cast in the titular role. On August 13, 2019, Ashley Park had joined the main cast. On September 19, 2019, Philippine Leroy Beaulieu, Lucas Bravo, Samuel Arnold, Camille Razat, and Bruno Gouery joined cast in starring roles, while Kate Walsh, William Abadie, and Arnaud Viard were cast in recurring roles.

Filming

Principal photography for the series was expected to begin in early 2019 in Paris and its suburbs, but began in August 2019.

Many scenes are filmed at Place de l'Estrapade in the 5th Arrondissement. It's the original site of Emily's apartment, the restaurant ("Les Deux Compres"), and the bakery. Some scenes are also filmed at Cit du Cinma, a film studio complex in Saint-Denis. An episode was also filmed at the Chteau de Sonnay in the department of Indre-et-Loire. Additional photography took place in Chicago during November 2019.

Release

The series was released by Netflix on October 2, 2020.

Reception

Critical response

</ref>}} Daniel D'Addario of Variety described the series as "a delight that poses the question of what it really means to grow up, against a truly inviting backdrop", and that Collins is "an inherently winsome performer who has never been quite as well used as she is here". Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a "B" and wrote, "If you need a five-hour brain vacation, Paris is a worthwhile destination." The New Zealand Herald considered the show "visually delectable" and that "Collins has a pixie-ish charm which makes her endearing", but also that the show is "as ephemeral as fairy floss [cotton candy]". However, Kristen Lopez of IndieWire wrote a review Metacritic graded as a 23 out of a 100, praising Collins for being a "jewel, make no mistake" and that "Emily in Paris is only as watchable and frivolous as its leading lady," but warning viewers "Emily in Paris is like scrolling through Instagram. It"?s a great way to waste time looking at pretty pictures with no depth."

Nevertheless, not all critics were kind to the Emily character. Emma Gray from HuffPost called Emily a bland character, stating "The show doesn"?t even make an effort to quirk her up or give her a more relatable, girl-next-door roughness: she"?s always immaculately coiffed and made-up, and garbed in effortfully eye-catching outfits. But there"?s not much to the character, except for enormous amounts of self-confidence and the inexplicable ability to attract new friends and love interests on every street corner." Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian gave the series one out of five stars: "if it is an attempt to fluff up the romcom for the streaming age, then it falls over on its six-inch heels."

Some critics appeared ambivalent, such as Jo Ellison writing for the Financial Times. On one hand she expresses admiration for the way Darren Star manages to depict "a version of womanhood in which promiscuity, bossiness and shopaholicism are depicted as qualities to be celebrated"; on the other "the major plot lines might have been written in the 1940s and the Frenchies are routinely cast as vain, preening and parochial." She concludes "Clich-ridden and completely outdated: Darren Star's 'Sex and the Cit' will no doubt be monstrously successful."

Many French critics condemned the show for negatively stereotyping Parisians and the French. Charles Martin wrote in Premire that the show unfairly stereotyped and depicted the French as "lazy [individuals who] never arrive at the office before the end of the morning [...] are flirtatious and not really attached to the concept of loyalty [...] are sexist and backward, and [...] have a questionable relationship with showering".

Megan Garber of The Atlantic was critical of the character Emily, writing, "An expat who acts like a tourist, she judges everything against the backdrop of her own rigid Americanness. You might figure that those moments are evidence of a show poking fun at its protagonist"?s arrogance, or setting the stage for her to grow beyond her initial provincialism. But: You would be, as I was, mostly incorrect. Instead, other people change around her. They grudgingly concede that her way (strident, striving, teeming with insistent individualism) is the right way. The show"?the latest from the Sex and the City creator Darren Star"?is selling several fantasies. Primary among them is the notion that Emily can bulldoze her way through France and be celebrated for it.

For the series, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 63% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though its depiction of France is tr clich, Emily in Paris is rom-com fantasy at its finest, spectacularly dressed and filled with charming performances." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 17 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Audience viewership

For the week of October 5, 2020, Emily in Paris reached the top ten list of most watched streaming shows per Nielsen. It's also one of the notable examples of hate-watching.

Award controversy

The show received two nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, but prior to the ceremony it was reported that 30 members of the voting body had been flown to Paris, where they spent two nights at the The Peninsula Paris and were treated to a private lunch at the Muse des Arts Forains, with the bill reportedly paid by the show's developer, Paramount Network. This led some critics to question the impartiality of the voting body, as Emily in Paris is considered to have been a critical flop, and its nomination was a surprise. In contrast, critically-acclaimed shows, notably I May Destroy You, were not nominated.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	Critics' Choice Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Ashley Park
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Emily in Paris
		Best Actress - Television Series, Musical or Comedy	Lily Collins