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CULTURE

Swashbuckling French tycoon Bernard Tapie gets Netflix series

Netflix on Wednesday releases a series based on the life of Bernard Tapie, the controversial and popular French business magnate who was jailed in one of football's biggest match-fixing scandals, amid protests from his family.

Swashbuckling French tycoon Bernard Tapie gets Netflix series
French businessman Bernard Tapie in 2013. Tapie died in October 2021 at the age of 78. (Photo by Boris HORVAT / AFP)

Tapie, who died in 2021 at 78, was also a prolific actor and occasional politician — he even became a government minister — but made his biggest mark in French public life as owner of the Olympique de Marseille (OM) football club.

He also gained prominence in the early 1990s with the purchase of German sports apparel firm Adidas, getting it back on solid financial footing before a sale that blew up into a financial scandal that reached the upper echelons of French politics.

The self-made man’s fall was as spectacular as his life, with several criminal convictions, including for fixing a Marseille match.

The series “neither attributes nor deflects blame”, screenwriter and series co-creator Olivier Demangel told AFP, calling it “pure fiction”.

Tapie is played by French actor Laurent Lafitte, whose picture displaying a clear likeness to his subject has been plastered on French billboards ahead of the launch of the seven-episode series that retraces 30 years of Tapie’s life.

It starts in 1966 with his first successful appearance in a TV talent show, and ends with his incarceration for match-fixing in 1997.

“This is the story of a television salesman who wanted to get into television and who ended up incorporating television,” Demangel said.

Tapie himself was hostile to the Netflix project when the streaming giant first floated it three years ago, according to director Tristan Seguela, who knew Tapie personally.

“He said to me: I’ll stop you right there, the answer is no”, Seguela told AFP, saying however that he ignored Tapie’s objections.

Since then, Tapie’s daughter Sophie has come out against the show, saying “there is no limit to disrespect”.

His widow, Dominique, told the Monaco-Matin newspaper that “I don’t fear this series, I deplore it”.

Seguela said it was a deliberate choice to keep Tapie’s family at arm’s length, to preserve “our freedom” in creating the fictional profile.

Demangel said the main sources for the show were around 40 books on Tapie and masses of press reports, video archives and court documents.

“This is our take on this person and his life,” he said.

Among the liberties taken by the creators was the attribution of some scenes when Tapie was urban affairs minister to president Francois Mitterrand, when they really involved prime minister Pierre Beregovoy.

Actor Lafitte said he was not certain that the series, which he said was “very French”, would appeal to international audiences.

“Americans will say: So this is about a guy who starts with nothing and makes it. Big deal,” he laughed.

French-produced shows already on Netflix include the gentleman detective story “Lupin” with Omar Sy, political thriller “Marseille” starring Gerard Depardieu, and, most recently, “Bardot” which recounts the early life of superstar actor Brigitte Bardot.

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LIVING IN FRANCE

5 tips to have the best possible night at France’s Fête de la musique

It can be the most fun day of the year - when France goes music crazy and bands suddenly appear on every street corner - but there are some tips to make your Fête de la musique experience as good as it can possibly be.

5 tips to have the best possible night at France's Fête de la musique

First, a caveat – this is an entirely personal manifesto based on the things that I have enjoyed over my Fête de la Musique outings over the years. It’s not intended as any kind of hard-and-fast rule and plenty of people will have different experiences.

Feel free to disagree and/or share your festival tips in the comments section below!

1 Ignore the big-name artists

There are always a few big-name artists or concerts in major venues on the Fête de la musique (which happens every year on June 21st).

Ignore them. Sure, stadiums gigs can be great and huge venues can have a wonderful atmosphere – but you can do that any night of the year. It’s not what Fête de la musique is about.

The true spirit of the Fête is the smaller acts who play on street corners, in bars and community venues. They’re free, you can wander between them and stay as long as you like – and there is always something else around the corner.

2 Ignore the big towns

You might think that the big cities have the best music, but if you have the choice, go for a small town or a suburb.

I’ve enjoyed some good Fêtes in Paris, but the best experiences had have been smaller towns or the Paris’ suburbs (Montreuil is good – a commune that carefully cultivates a small-town / village vibe, albeit a very diverse small town where everyone is a hippy, a leftist, or both).

It’s partly a practicality thing – in big cities the acts are spread out and you have to make plans to see something and meet up with friends. In small towns, you just wander along to the main square, then when you’ve seen the acts there, you can saunter up the side streets, each of which will have dozens of bands playing, pausing only to grab a beer and snacks.

But it’s also the vibe; in big cities you can hear good live music all the time and the population is consequently complacent – small towns truly appreciate the Fête de la musique and properly go wild.

Once, in Paris, I was watching a blues band play in the street when a woman tipped water on their heads from her apartment window because she was tired and wanted to go to sleep. Small towns appreciate it when bands play for them.

3 Experiment

There’s a lot of variety on the night, so take advantage – this is your opportunity to hear all kinds of live music from rock to swing, jazz to classical, choirs to DJs.

Didn’t think that a five-piece oud band is your thing? Fête de la musique may change your mind. It’s the night of the year when anything goes, musically, so it’s also the night to try something new.

If you hate it – well it’s free and there’s another band down the street that might be more your thing. But you might discover a lifetime passion for oud music – in fact, by this time next year you might be playing in the oud band. Thanks to the Fête de la musique.

4 Don’t insist on quality

You’ll hear some great bands, but you’ll also hear some that are more about enthusiasm – and that’s all part of the fun.

You’re going to be hearing everything from classic rock to reggae to blues to the above-mentioned five-piece oud band, and as well as the styles the quality may be variable to.

For me, the true spirit of Fête de la musique is the 50-year-old accountant rocking out on his guitar and enjoying the one night of the year when he can dream that if only he hadn’t given up on his high school band, he could now be rich, famous and selling out stadiums, as opposed to filing tax declarations in an office above the florist.

5 Dress comfortably

Some people like to dress up for the Fête and that’s great – it’s a party after all – but the key thing is to wear something that is comfortable and allows you to shake your stuff.

Yes, you will be dancing – you’ll be dancing on street corners, in parks, cafés and perhaps on street furniture if things really get going, and you’ll be dancing with kids, dapper 70-year-old gents and everyone in between.

You need comfortable shoes and clothes that you can really move in.

Dance like no-one is watching. They may be watching, but they won’t be judging. Much. It’s Fête de la musique.

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