PARIS — France may have gone back into lockdown last month, but it still has an international ambassador on small screens everywhere thanks to the actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, a.k.a. Sylvie Grateau in the love-to-hate-it Netflix series “Emily in Paris.” As the head of a luxury marketing agency who overdresses, smokes, mocks political correctness and oozes meanness, she is the extreme version of the “Parisienne,” disseminating style and scorn in equal measure. It’s a useful reminder that, while stereotypes are easy to sell — the French have described the series as a ragout of ridiculous clichés — the more complicated reality is often better. “It’s funny, because the series is not meant to be real,” she said, over lunch at Cyril Lignac’s Le Bar des Prés, one of her favorite neighborhood bistros. “It’s what Americans expect of Paris.

Source: International New York Times November 09, 2020 10:52 UTC