Netflix: We saw the first episodes of the series on Bernard Tapie with Laurent Lafitte at CANNESERIES 2023

What is it about?

From singer to businessman, minister to prisoner, Bernard Tapie knew it all. Through both success and failure, Tapp traces the romantic fortunes of an extraordinary public figure.

The turbulent fate of “wonders”.

Expected to hit Netflix at the end of the year, the French series Tapie was presented at the CANNESERIES festival. In Official Competition, this play, co-created by director Tristan Seguela and novelist/screenwriter Olivier Demangel, is already generating a lot of buzz because it was undubbed when it went into production following the death of key stakeholder Bernard Tap. that he is already being criticized by his relatives.

This fictional biopic was originally to be called Wonderman, a title that echoed the personality of the businessman, the “wonder” who “does miracles” and the name of the electric battery company Wonder, which Bernard Tapie bought with a token franc. and which he later sold for 470 million francs. The businessman also placed himself in an advertisement with the slogan “I’m going to a miracle”. Netflix ultimately opted for a more sober title.

A seven-episode mini-series, Tapie offers a unique look at the troubled and busy early days of the businessman, politician, former Olympique de Marseille boss and singer. Actor Laurent Lafitte had the tough task of stepping into the shoes of the French persona, and he delivers a lively and noble performance.

He is accompanied in the casting by such amazing talents as Josephine Japp, Camille Chamoux and Hakim Cemil, but also Fabrice Lucchin, Patrick d’Assumceau, Antoine Reinartz, Ophelia Colby, Alexandre Blaze or even Sara Succo.

In the first two episodes that we were able to discover, we sense a significant work on the reconstruction of eras – in this particular case the 60s and 70s – as well as the creation and modeling of a brash, determined, ambitious and neurotic personality. With the successes and failures of this businessman and politician.

At the beginning of each episode, the series assumes that it is inspired by real facts, but romanticizes and changes certain details, in particular, about Bernard Tap’s relatives and personal aspects of everyday life. Tapie is not a biopic, strictly speaking, but a rather stylized (sometimes a little too much?) look at the life of a businessman.

Because watching the first two episodes feels like a certain dramatization of the stages of Bernard Tapp’s life, supported by a very relevant soundtrack, between the hits of the time and deaf classical music. The Tapie series often leans towards the soapy side with some dialogues that are sometimes overplayed. We’ll have to wait for the rest of the series to get a more accurate idea and see how it develops in tone and narrative, but for now the series is pretty cohesive and wise.

The Tapie series will be available September 13 on Netflix.