« Ça, it’s Paris…” In 1926, Mistinguett sang this emblematic anthem of Parisian nights for the first time in the eponymous revue at the Moulin Rouge. Nearly a hundred years later, the famous song this time gives its title to the new France 2 event series, which goes behind the scenes of a cabaret in the capital in decline, forced to reinvent itself to continue to exist.
Broadcast from this Wednesday, November 27, the six episodes celebrate the history of Tout Paris, whose aging show no longer attracts only a very few nostalgic fans. Behind the rhinestones, there is stress for the director Gaspard Berthille (Alex Lutz), a caring boss but a bad manager. He is therefore preparing to sell it to a supermarket chain, thus settling the inheritance from his father, the founder of the establishment.
ALSO READ “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”: when Disney+ shows good tasteBut when the curtain is lowered on his childhood memories, he begins to dream again of feathers and sequins. And finally decides to restore Tout Paris to its former glory by setting up a new magazine with the help of an artistic director who is as little known as he is high-minded and flamboyant (Nicolas Maury)…
A crazy company with a false air of the iconic Ten percent in front of but also behind the camera, which mixes drama and humor to highlight live performance. If it sometimes disperses, it manages to provide a pleasant show, thanks in particular to its gallery of touching characters, carried by a prestigious casting.
That’s Paris! : a series that aims to be modern and contemporary
By visiting behind the scenes of the cabaret, That’s Paris! is undeniably in line with Ten percent, which revealed the underbelly of the seventh art. The two series were also initiated by the same producers, Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller. Who recruited Marc Fitoussi (who also presided over the destiny of the fictional star agency in the last two seasons), to create, co-write and direct this new serial homage to the world of entertainment and the spirit of the troupe: “They had already tried to develop a project on this theme with Marina Defosse, a former Crazy Horse dancer, but it was unsuccessful and we therefore started from scratch,” explains the showrunner, who admits a fascination for this universe Since that he discovered it as a child in front of the TV on New Year's Eve.
He tried it again in 2014 for the purposes of his film The Ritournelle, with Isabelle Huppert: “I then felt that certain cabarets were experiencing their final hours. To talk about this world, it seemed interesting to me to start from such a place that is losing momentum, obsolete in the eyes of many. »
ALSO READ International Emmy Awards: the French series “Les Gouttes de Dieu” winsHowever, there is no question of looking to the past or delving into historical fiction. That’s Paris! conversely wants to be “totally contemporary and modern”: “The cabaret has a retrograde image, but it has always been the refuge of the disenfranchised and the outcasts, a place of freedom. It’s a great arena to talk about today’s world, diversity and tolerance, explains Marc Fitoussi. With all the individuals who cohabit in a troop, we could draw up a partial x-ray of the France of 2024, where very different people constitute a new chosen family. »
“That’s Paris!” » , endearing characters carried by a three-star cast
Choral, the series indeed shows a multitude of endearing characters, from the amorphous director, who will reveal himself in adversity and in contact with an exalted director, to his teenage daughter, revolted by the work of a father “who displays women as objects”, #MeToo obliges. Passing by the three dancers, with opposite temperaments but united by a beautiful sorority.
We will also mention a slightly depressed suburban costume designer, a former transgender reception attendant, a waiter on judicial probation, her gruff waiter, or even – don't throw any more away! –, a very pious and naive Polish emigrant, victim of slave employers then of a sentimental predator.
So many trajectories which intersect and uncross at the risk of getting lost in dispensable or under-exploited intrigues: “I wanted to give flesh to all the roles, even secondary ones, which could subsequently gain momentum as this was the case of Ten percent throughout the seasons,” explains the designer. And to continue: “The idea was to have a kaleidoscopic vision of this universe and to take on contrary voices by mixing funny scenes and serious moments, like life. »
After a first episode of an exhibition which seeks its way(s), we let ourselves be drawn into this whirlwind chronicle, embodied by a luxury cast… Because there are truly beautiful people flocking to Tout Paris. In addition to Alex Lutz and Nicolas Amaury, whose role was tailored to his (dis)measure, he also welcomes Charlotte de Turckheim, Dominique Besnehard, Aurore Clément, Florence Thomassin (who, before choosing comedy, performed for three years at the L'Alcazar cabaret), or the artist Galia Salimo, once nicknamed the Queen of Parisian nights.
Original choreographies and music
Alongside them appear Line Renaud, Christian Louboutin and Monica Bellucci in their own role: “Since Ten percent, things have changed: when we talk about the world of entertainment, we no longer need to invent fictitious stars. Certain personalities are ready to play under their name, rejoices Marc Fitoussi. It would have bothered me to have Monica Bellucci in the casting and have her pass off as an international star called Ornella Venturini…”
A way of anchoring the series a little more in reality even if the Italian actress, recruited into the series to become the leader of the new Tout Paris magazine, happily enjoys diverting her image: we thus discover her mischievous, capricious and deliberately histrionic… But always so divine.
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They finally share the stage with the real dancers of Paradis Latin, where the series was partly filmed. Kamel Ouali, who served for a long time at the Star Academychoreographed his new show there, The Bird of Paradiseled by Iris Mittenaere (without her miss scarf): “He knew how to reinvent himself, to find the right recipe that continues to work. I logically called on him to imagine the dance sequences of the series in which his troupe participates. » Special mention to a tribute scene to La La Landwhere Monica Bellucci twirls in a blocked street…
Also original is the soundtrack which accompanies the story, and that, more specific, of the Tout Paris reviews, both orchestrated by the composer Bertrand Burgalat. We also owe him the music of the luxurious credits: “I found it important to recall in each episode the splendor of the cabaret, which has become a Parisian signature and which has made the whole world fantasize. » Marc Fitoussi dreams, for his part, of a season 2 if the public adopts Tout Paris: “We envisaged it as a completed series, but we opened avenues that I would like to explore in the future by nourishing myself feedback from viewers…”
