While it is always difficult to recover from failure, it is sometimes also difficult to bounce back from success. This is what Marc Fitoussi, Edgard Grima and Jérôme Bruno must have said to themselves when embarking on That’s Paris!a glittering epic written for France Télévisions, in which the viewer witnesses in real time the fall of the Parisian cabaret Tout-Paris, managed with two left hands by Gaspard Berthille (Alex Lutz). After the media hit of Ten percentwhere the three filmmakers were already at work, it is difficult to escape comparisons, even criticism. A sport unfortunately very French.
But, like their cabaret boss, they did not hesitate to roll up their sleeves to impose this burlesque vision of a world halfway between Moulin rouge, Emily in Paris et Ten percent. And if it is obviously this series that is most talked about, it is because the director Marc Fitoussi is inspired by what made the success of the show which will celebrate its tenth anniversary – yes, already – in 2025, namely prestigious guests playing their own roles (Monica Bellucci, Line Renaud, etc.) and not unknown faces (Nicolas Maury, brilliant in his role of perched artistic director, but also Charlotte de Turckheim, unrecognizable).
The result, except perhaps the first episode which is flat, lives up to the ambitions. Funny, visually beautiful and punctuated by original Music by Bertrand Burgalat, the whole thing promises ideal entertainment to bring home those who have fled the public service to find refuge at Netflix. The floor goes to Marc Fitoussi, conductor of this production in which the dialogues rub shoulders with the costumes, but without straining muscles.
We absolutely didn’t think about this show and say to ourselves: “Hey, what are we going to get from Ten percent?” Certainly, That’s Paris! talks about behind the scenes, that of a cabaret, like our previous series told the story behind the scenes of a star agency. We can see other similarities there: there is obviously the fact that I was co-writer and director of certain episodes of Ten percentwithout forgetting Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller in production and the presence of Nicolas Maury and Anne Marivin in the casting. But honestly, it all started from this desire to tell the story of a cabaret going adrift and how it could regain its splendor.
When you carry such a heavy project on your shoulders, the success of Ten percent is it an asset or a burden?
It benefits me as much as it harms me, and I knew that before the series was even shown. It is completely logical to announce from the trailer that this production was created by the team of Ten percentsince many of us have worked on it. From there, we know that the media will be very harsh in the comparison, or sometimes not objective. Some will prefer our previous show and others will find that That’s Paris! is better. In the end, only the viewers will judge.
Along the way, we find the same ultra-effective mechanics with guests like Monica Bellucci or Line Renaud playing their own roles. To what extent did this logic of casting per episode influence their writing?
Ten percent opened the way to something new: we no longer want these series or films where we invent fictitious stars played by known actors and actresses. Now we know that some personalities are ready to play under their own name. If we’re talking about a music hall and cabaret queen, it’s much tastier to be able to invite Line Renaud playing the real Line Renaud than to create a fictional character.
In the same way, it seemed unthinkable to me to have Monica Bellucci in the casting and have to call her Ornella Venturini to play the Italian star! The advantage of having “real people” in fiction also plays out in the dialogues, where we can quote Angèle as much as Aya Nakamura or Marie-Paule Belle. I am sure that the public loves this foray into life in the series.
Who is the real main character of That’s Paris! ? Alex Lutz, boss of the cabaret, is obviously central, but the episodes reveal a constellation of main micro-roles.
We wanted a choral series that could swirl, that is to say move from one protagonist to another, from the director of the cabaret Le Tout-Paris (Alex Lutz) to its new artistic director (Nicolas Maury), via the dancer Coralie (played by Salomé Dewaels). In the end, the main character is the cabaret itself; it’s the house that houses all the lost heroes of this production.
More than Ten percentthe scenario of That’s Paris! with this bankrupt cabaret is especially reminiscent of Last Metro by Truffaut, with Deneuve and Depardieu in this decaying Parisian theater of the Second World War…
It touches me a lot, I love it The Last Metro. It’s a film that left an impression on me and there is a direct link in one of the episodes. What’s funny is that every time I start preparing for a shoot, I revisit classics and, ultimately, I don’t do much with them due to lack of means. For That’s Paris!for example, I immersed myself again in Victor Victoria by Blake Edwards (1982) because there were great, sublime cabaret sequences.
But these bedside films above all have an unconscious impact; it is the sum of all this which resurfaces without calculation, like All on stage by Vincente Minnelli (1953) who had a big impact on me when I was a child. But when you embark on a new project, you have to know how to let go of the past.
Music is very important in That’s Paris!and you entrusted Bertrand Burgalat with writing the pieces for these six episodes. Was it important to fight against the refusal of certain producers to grant budgets to series soundtracks?
I have always loved original music in films and series. There are two things I hate at the moment: too many already known pieces reused as fillers to give the impression of a popular series, and the “musical pad syndrome”, where the melody is diffuse and impenetrable; it almost sounds more like sound design than real music.
Working with Bertrand Burgalat, with whom I had already collaborated on Appearances (2020), was on the contrary the guarantee of “old-fashioned” original music, but resolutely modern. The result is at once classic, classy and very contemporary, especially since it managed to meet my astronomical need for music, whether it be the theme songs or pieces from cabaret shows. It was pharaonic!
It is indeed always a battle to make productions understand that music for the image is essential. Not to mention the omnipresence of music supervisors who have almost replaced composers. It is wrongly believed that it is enough to find two or three known pieces for the case to be closed. This is false.
Can we expect that That’s Paris! exported abroad?
The series has already been sold for Italy [à la Rai, ndlr] and on other national channels. It should also soon land on a famous platform whose name I can’t say yet!
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