I’ve now seen both seasons of Emily in Paris, and one of the worst parts of the show is Emily’s terrible fashion. That being said, I love the way the supporting characters dress. Camille (Emily’s blonde friend) has great style, and I love a lot of what the Sylvie character wears. To me, Sylvie looks and dresses like (what I think of as) a “real Frenchwoman.” Sylvie is played by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who is 58 years old. Sylvie is Emily’s boss at the French marketing firm and she spends much of the first two seasons being disgusted by Emily. Sylvie was sort of a one-dimensional character in the first season, but the writing around all of the supporting characters improved a lot in the second season. Philippine is happy with the show, which surprises me, and she thinks French people need to lighten up about the show:
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu thinks her countrymen could stand to lighten up. The 58-year-old, who plays the always impeccably dressed Sylvie Grateau in “Emily in Paris,” believes the Gallic backlash to the show boils down to one thing:
“The French know how to laugh at other people but they don’t know how to laugh at themselves,” she tells Page Six. “They always get hurt and upset when people laugh at them, they don’t realize that [creator] Darren [Starr] is also making fun of the Americans, very much — they don’t realize that. They don’t have a sense of humor, that’s what I think!”
Despite her countrymen’s stance on the show, the Italian-born actress says the rest of the world has kinder words for her role: “People from the Philippines are so excited my name is Philippine,” she relates delightedly. “It’s really cute,” she says, adding she’s surprised and “really touched” by “young people, 20-year-olds, [who are] interested in Sylvie’s character” and leave “incredible comments on Instagram.”
Leroy-Beaulieu’s gratitude to Starr is twofold. She’s thankful for being cast in a role she says “was written for a younger woman like 35, 40” and has fun playing the “nasty, but not really” character. “It’s an opportunity to do things and say things you never do in life because you’re never that French,” she explains. “I’m never that French!”
Leroy-Beaulieu confesses that she doesn’t feel quite like the sex symbol her character — who embarks on a steamy affair with a sexy young photographer Eric DeGroot (Søren Bregendal) this season — gets tagged as, but says she’s “always very honored when they say that to me.”
“People my age should be freer than we are … being freer and being bolder and having more fun and just live,” she offers by way of advice on how to age like Sylvie. “You know how hard it is when you pass 45 or even 40 and people start thinking, ‘Just get out of the scene.’ But there’s so much we can do and transmit. We have a lot to teach the younger girls.”
[From Page Six]
I’ll be honest: I’m shocked that she’s 58!! I thought she was in her mid-40s, or maybe her late 40s (tops). They really put her in a skimpy bikini in the second season and gave her a hot young lover who adores her, how wonderful for her. Anyway, I love what she says here – it must be a lot different for her, to experience this as an actress in her 50s, enjoying herself on a silly American show.
Photos courtesy of Carole Bethuel/Netflix.
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