Why Netflix's Lupine Is Already Called One of the Best TV Shows of the Year

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A new project with Omar Sy from "1 + 1" deceives expectations and pleases with a combination of a cool detective story and a life story.

Streaming giant Netflix, trying to move away from the image of a typical American platform, offers viewers more and more regional projects from Europe, Asia and even Africa. And some of them become real hits - just remember the incredibly popular German "Darkness", the Spanish "Paper House" or the Korean "Kingdom". And the Russian TV series "Epidemic" on Netflix was in great demand.

The French are not releasing the first project for streaming. Many are already familiar with the comedy "Family Business" or the horror "Marianne" in the spirit of Stephen King. But 2021 kicked off with a success that seemed to surprise Netflix itself. The series "Lupine" suddenly hit the top not only in France, but also in English-speaking countries, and then reached other regions, including Russia. For a month, the project is predicted to have about 70 million views.

If you think about it, there is nothing surprising in this success. After all, the authors have created an absolutely universal plot, which turns out to be not at all what you expected at first.

A story about a robbery. Or not?

The son of an immigrant from Senegal, Assan Diop (Omar Si), is plotting a daring robbery. He plans to steal Queen Marie Antoinette's necklace from the Louvre during the auction. The plan is thought out to the smallest detail: Assan got a job as a janitor in the museum in advance to find out everything, passed information on to narrow-minded but determined bandits, and on the day of the operation he pretended to be a rich buyer. But because of the stupidity of the accomplices, the adventure is thwarted. Or does it not break down?

The plot of the first episode is reminiscent of a traditional Ocean 11 heist movie. It seems that it is not difficult to guess about the further development of events: the plan will not actually collapse, but will turn out to be more complicated. This is true, but only partially.

In fact, Diop wants to avenge his father, who was falsely accused of theft by his employers - the Pellegrini family. To achieve the goal, the hero is inspired by a book about Arsene Lupine, which his father once gave him.

It is better not to talk about other details of the plot. While Lupine can hardly be called a "thoroughbred" detective, there are many unexpected twists in the series that should not be revealed.

At the same time, the series retains the typical elements of criminal action. The hero has a faithful assistant, and then he finds another ally. As in many similar stories, Diop is trying in parallel to establish a personal life that did not work out in the past. And all this is inscribed in a non-linear narrative: the childhood of the hero himself, and the development of a plan, and subsequent revenge are revealed.

The authors seem to offer the viewer to put together a puzzle: the complete picture gradually develops from the events of the past and the present.

But most importantly, Diop constantly finds himself in new places and situations: from the Louvre to the prison. And it turns out that the denouement of history is predictable. But how exactly the hero will act and what he really planned is unclear. So every next scene looks very unexpected. That is why the series looks literally in one breath, and the finale of the fifth episode immediately makes you wait for the continuation.

Poor versus rich. Or not?

Another deception is the ideological component of the series. At first glance, everything seems obvious: the rich, for the sake of their interests, can substitute a representative of the poor class, and they will get away with everything. But the creators of "Lupine" interestingly reveal this idea, and therefore add ambiguity to most of the characters.

To begin with, the hero makes great use of the fact that literally no one notices the lower-level workers. This approach often flickers in crime scenes, and one can only think again if someone is paying attention to the face of a courier or a janitor in the office.

In support of this idea, a funny video was filmed where Omar Sy himself, the most popular actor in France, under the guise of an ordinary worker, hangs an advertisement for the series in the metro. And nobody pays attention to the star.

But something else is much more interesting: following the general line, "Lupine" in each episode tells in detail about a separate character. And even the hero himself understands that many of those whom he considered villains are not at all like that. It seems that everyone wants what is best, but in sum, all this gives a terrible result. After all, no one in a timely manner doubted the most important fact: the guilt of the suspect.

Of course, there is a main antagonist in the show, who at a certain point becomes too caricatured to think about him seriously. Therefore, the real evil in this story can be declared rather the system that supports the stratification of society.

At the same time, Assan Diop himself can hardly be called a completely positive hero. He repeatedly fined in communication with his beloved and son. He can be cruel in achieving his goal, and a good person suffers from his actions. Is he very different from his enemies?

Such ambiguity turns characters from script clichés into real people, and therefore it is interesting to watch them.

The history of the classic Arsene Lupine. Or not?

The creators of the series acted cleverly and even cunningly, in advance disowning the need to match the original stories about the famous robber. This is not an adaptation of Maurice LeBlanc's novels or even a transfer of the action to the modern world, as in Sherlock.

The hero is called differently, he has a completely different background. The books about Arsene Lupine are just what inspires the criminal and, obviously, the authors of the project. Therefore, they have complete creative freedom.

However, although Diop uses deepfakes and drones with might and main, he seems more like the real Lupine than the characters in some other film adaptations. And it certainly looks more interesting than the hero of the 2004 film "Arsene Lupine". Moreover, the story with the false accusation of stealing the necklace directly refers to Leblanc's books.

At the same time, self-irony is not alien to the series. He even has a separate character who constantly repeats that all this was already in the books. And by the way, in Lupine they talk so warmly about the original source that sales of Leblanc's novels are sure to grow.

But in terms of structure, the series is more like more modern and dynamic works. If you expand the story linearly, the plot will be built like a quest, as, for example, in The Da Vinci Code. The hero needs to fulfill certain conditions, unravel the codes and obtain the necessary information, after which he moves on to the next part.

A very stylish series. And that's for sure

The above elements add up to ample reason to enjoy this show. But on top of that, there was also a great team that made the project very cool visually. Lupine was invented by screenwriters François Yuzan and George Kay. The latter has already appeared on Netflix with the international project "The Criminal", where an exciting detective story took place in three rooms of a police station, and the heroes were sitting in one place almost all the time.

Here the director Louis Leterrier also joined the team (he directed two of the five episodes), who once presented the audience with an incredibly stylish "Illusion of Deception". Together, the authors managed to present the plot gracefully and dynamically, combining dramatic scenes with ironic action: you seem to worry about the heroes, but their actions often cause a smile.

And a considerable share of the success definitely belongs to Omar Xi, who perfectly fit into the main role. The actor has long since got out of the hooligan image of the hero "1 + 1", which once brought him popularity, and gained a lot of charisma.

"Lupine" is a great solo outing for C, because he flaunts a dancing gait in an expensive suit, then plays a ridiculous technical support employee. Of course, some images turn out to be rather caricatured, but with the general irony of the story, this is quite acceptable.

Considering the very small timing of the episodes that came out (in total, about four hours), "Lupine" can be watched in one or two evenings. But this series will leave the most pleasant impressions. Perhaps just because of its lightness.

The plot is not overloaded with morality and sociality, making them only part of the story. The non-linearity further confuses the viewer, gradually revealing the events of the past, and charming heroes win over. Great story for a vacation.