My Honest Thoughts on "Emily in Paris" as an Expat Living in Paris.
Emily in Paris graced our screens this weekend as the series premiered on Netflix on the second of October, promising a Parisian escape from wherever we may be enduring this strange year. As an expat currently living in Paris, I was intrigued yet dubious about the series, as the trailer promised nothing more than rose tinted clichés and a fluorescent clad Lily Collins. Suffice it to say that I started off as indignant as a local Parisian and then warmed to enjoying the jejune plot and pretty Parisian cityscapes.
The story follows Emily Cooper, a young American girl who moves to Paris to work for a marketing firm and, as we are told a hundred times, to offer up her ‘American perspective’. Emily’s French encounters in the first few episodes offer the viewer more second-hand embarrassment than relatable endearment; and the series seems doomed when upon opening her huge window with its rare view, she exclaims “I feel like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!”
The apartment, to which this huge window belongs, is supposed to be an old Chambre de bonne- which is a room, normally on the top floor of Parisian Hausmannian buildings, and used to be the maids’ quarters. These rooms barely fit a single bed with a sliver of a wardrobe and a semblance of a shower, and the toilet is normally outside the room, in the passage and shared with the other chambres’ de bonne residents. I suppose Emily’s apartment echoes Carrie Bradshaw’s huge, rent controlled Brownstone apartment in Sex and the City. But I think we have all moved on from the trope of unfathomable real estate occupied by single people in expensive cities. The incredibly tiny apartments Paris is known for could have offered a fresh perspective, replete with the inevitable gallows humour of living in a shoe box and sharing a bathroom with strangers.
Speaking of Sex and the City, the stylist from the cult show, Patricia Field, was the costume designer for Emily in Paris. Expectations were of course set high with her litany of incredible outfits she created for the characters on SATC, but unfortunately disappointed many with Emily’s bizarre wardrobe. Not only were the outfits incompatible with the city (stilettos and city walking do not a match make), but the loud clashing colours and clunky accessories would more likely fit a Disney channel character’s wardrobe in 2010 than any young, fashionable woman of today. I think we can all agree that no one would walk into a Parisian office wearing a silken shirt baring the Eiffel tower on it on their first day. The other characters in the show had substantially better style like Emily’s French friend Camille and her mean boss, Sylvie, which made Emily look even more out of place.
Wardrobe aside, the show does, however, do the cultural differences expats experience some justice. Such as the non-existence of customer service in Paris and the stark difference between American and Anglo-Saxon ,at times glib, politeness and the French indifference and, at times, perceived rudeness. I think what made the series most disappointing were the persistent clichés and the lack of nuance in the experience of moving to a new country and learning a foreign language.
The little events like having to listen to a voicemail eight times because you still cannot wrap your head around French phone numbers, and bless your soul if the phone number includes digits in the eighties and nineties. Or like being able to fully hold a conversation one day and your French mysteriously disappearing the next and being met with blank stares and “quoi?” Don’t get me started on French bureaucracy and the countries love of mail over doing things online.
Despite its many flaws, I did end up watching the entire series this weekend and peg that down to craving more escapism from series, as reality is more uncertain than ever. The show got slightly more interesting as the episodes progressed but ultimately leaves you feeling wanting; and I believe was a missed opportunity to create something which has progressed past the trappings of series like Gossip Girl and speaks more to modern times. I don’t doubt that there will be a second season and hopefully Emily will have learnt more French and packed away her on the nose red beret.
