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Lupin - Chapter 1
episode 1.1
France 2021
produced by Isabelle Degeorges, Nathan Franck for Gaumont/Netflix
directed by Louis Leterrier
starring Omar Sy, Vincent Londez, Ludivine Sagnier, Grégoire Colin, Kamel Guenfoud, Arthur Choisnet, Fargass Assandé, Mamadou Haidara, Clotilde Hesme, Nicole Garcia, Hervé Pierre, Lea Bonneau, Soufiane Guerrab, Shirine Boutella, Léo Boucry, Johann Dionnet, Quentin Gouget, Antoine Gouy, Xavier Lemaître, Adama Niane, Mohamed Nouar, Noam Schmitz, Etan Simon, Jocelyne Vignon, Martin Trouvé-Dugény, Ary Gabison, Charlotte Saliou, Xavier Gojo
written and created by George Kay, François Uzan, based on the character Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc, music by Mathieu Lamboley
TV-series Lupin, Arsène Lupin
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Assane (Omar Sy), son of an immigrant from Senegal (Fargass Assandé),
works as a low level cleaner on the Louvre's cleaning crew, and if
anything, he seems to appreciate the art exhibited a bit too much for a
man of his standings, especially though Marie Antoinette's diamond
necklace. Assane though also owes money to three thugs, Vincent (Grégoire
Colin), Kevin (Kamel Guenfoud) and Rudy (Arthur Choisnet), but instead of
paying them back he tells them about his fool-proof plan to steal the
necklace, and during the auction it's supposed to sold off, too, because
as cleaner, he can get them entrance to the Louvre through the maintenance
entrance, while playing the part of an independently rich entrepreneur at
the auction, he can actually "buy" the necklace and persuade
security to get it out of its vault - upon which his accomplices are to
strike.
But why is he so hell-bent on getting the necklace? It has to do with
his father, who 25 years back was the driver of the Pellegrini family,
then and now owners of the necklace, and he had an amical bond with Madame
Pellegrini (Nicole Garcia). However, when the necklace was stolen back
when, the whole family turned against Assane's father and accused him of
stealing it without evidence, and him being an immigrant he was promptly
thrown into the slammer, where he hanged himself - and thus Assane has a
long-lasting grudge against the family, and thinks it's payback time, and
what better way than to this time actually steal the necklace?
Of course, the theft goes terribly wrong, as the plan might have been
perfect, but Vincent, Kevin and Rudy were hardly the right men to pull it
through, and the three are captured and arrested, and the necklace is
retrieved. Assane is let go as he managed to stick to his role as the
buyer throughout. Only later it's found out that the retrieved necklace is
actualy a fake ...
Judging from this first episode alone, this is a fun attempt
to bring Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin into modern times
without losing the essence of the source material, as this episode, as the
books, relies on clockwork precision of its plot blended with some irony
and carried by a certain light-footedness and interesting enough
storytelling. It's really only the constant mentions of the source
material - it being a young Assane's favourite book that are just a bit
too on-the-nose, and giving Assane an ex-wife (Ludivine Sagnier) he still
loves does little for the story at hand, but might have more weight in
later episodes. Other than that, this is well-told and also well-filmed
fun of the caper movie variety.
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