Lupine updates classic 21st century French thief

Netflix started 2021 with a bang, thanks to its new series, Lupine, starring French actor and comedian Omar Sy. This delightful contemporary reimagination of a classic French detective character, Arsène Lupine – a thief gentleman and master of disguise who was essentially the French equivalent of Sherlock Holmes – is a great success. According to Deadline Hollywood, Lupine is on track to reach 70 million homes in its first 28 days of release, beating two other recent Netflix blockbuster hits, Bridgerton (63 million families) and The Queen’s Gambit (62 million families).

(Some spoilers below, but no major revelations.)

As I wrote earlier, Arsène Lupine is the brainchild of Maurice Leblanc, who based the character in part on a French thief / anarchist. Leblanc was also familiar with the gentleman thief featured in Octave Mirbeau’s work, as well as with EW Hornung’s famous gentleman thief AJ Raffles, and he also knew about Rocambole, a character whose adventures were told in a series of stories published between 1857 and 1870 by Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail.

Pursued relentlessly by a detective named Ganimard, Lupine is caught stealing a woman’s jewelry aboard a ship. Although he is in prison, he finally escapes before being tried and continues to carry out many other colorful robberies. In a June 1906 story, “Sherlock Holmes arrives too late”, Lupine meets the old detective, although for legal reasons – Arthur Conan Doyle objected – the name was changed to “Herlock Sholmes” when the story was included in the first book of stories. The character Sholmes appeared in a few more stories later. In all, Leblanc wrote 17 novels and 39 novels with Lupine.

The Netflix series is the creation of Louis Leterrier, who directed the assault thriller in 2013 Now you see me, in which a band of magicians make ingenious robberies. Therefore, it is easy to see why he may be attracted to this project. According to the official premise: “As a teenager, Assane Diop’s life turned upside down when his father died after being accused of a crime he did not commit. 25 years later, Assane will use Arsène Lupine, Gentleman Thief as your inspiration to avenge your father. “

We met Assane (Sy), born in Senegal, while he works as a janitor at the Louvre, surrounded by works of art worth millions. Currently on display is a jewel necklace that belonged to Maria Antonieta, before a public auction to sell the piece for the highest bidder. It was this recently recovered necklace that his father, Babakar (Fargass Assandé) was falsely accused of theft by the wealthy financier Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre). Assane wants revenge for his father’s suicide. After tricking local gang members into stealing bait, Diop disguises himself as a potential wealthy buyer and breaks into the auction – and finally comes out with the necklace.

This is just the beginning of the story, as we learn more about Assane’s story – including his relationship with his childhood girlfriend, Claire (Ludivine Sagnier), his son’s mother – and why he modeled his schemes on Arsène Lupine’s exploits . Elements extracted from various Lupine stories are expertly woven throughout the series, most obviously “The Queen’s Necklace” – the title of the pilot episode, which incorporates various elements from the plot of the original story and also provides inspiration for the name of Assane’s son and Claire: Raoul (Etan Simon). Captain Romain Laugier (Vincent Londez) and another detective, Youssef Guedira (Soufiane Guerrab), are part of the team that investigates the theft of the Louvre, and both share traces of Ganimard.

Guedira is also lupine uber-fan; he is the only one in the department to notice the similarities between Diop’s work and the fictional gentleman thief (“the method, the panache, the style, the talent!”). His co-worker, Lieutenant Sofia Belkacem (Shirine Boutella), is not impressed by this idea: “What’s next? D’Artagnan and the Three Little Pigs?” Other Lupine stories clearly referenced – and often explicitly mentioned – in the series include “813,” “Seven of Hearts”, “Arsène Lupine in Prison,” “The Escape of Arsène Lupine”, “The Mysterious Traveler” and “The Hollow Needle , “the last two appear strongly in the final episode of the season.

The series has a fast pace, without sacrificing character development, capturing the essence of each character in skillful strokes. The cast has strong performances in all areas, most notably Anne Benoit as the disgraced journalist Fabienne Beriot, who chased Pellegrini for his corruption and failed. Now living alone in poverty with her puppy (aptly named J’Accuse, who barks whenever she hears the name “Pellegrini”), she ends up joining forces with Assane in the hope of finally taking the financier down. Benoit only appears in a single episode, but his bow is among the most powerful.

But it is Assane de Sy who anchors the series as the quintessential gentleman thief for the 21st century. Assane knows how to exploit racial stereotypes for the purpose at hand: the color of his skin makes him invisible as the Louvre caretaker, while making him stand out when he introduces himself as a young multimillionaire at the auction. (“You underestimated me,” Assane said to an antagonist at one point. “You saw me, but it didn’t really look like it.”) He’s charming, smooth, cultured and very, very intelligent, but he never died out, since Sy also imbues the character with athleticism and a confident physicality. He is also at home ordering good wine in a fancy restaurant or going toe-to-toe with an alleged murderer.

Honestly, the only flaw in this first season is that it is too short – just five episodes – and ends with one of those maddening anxieties for which Netflix is ​​becoming famous. Given away LupineWith a resounding success, I am quite confident that we will see more of Sy’s charming gentleman thief in the future.

Lupine is streaming on Netflix, and with just five episodes, it’s an easy binge. In French with English subtitles.