Paris – The fourth part of the show, which has either left Netflix marketing team squealing with joy or quietly updating their resumes, will be released on 23 October. Omar Sy’s Assane Diop, who turned himself in at the end of the third part of Lupin, will return to the screen four years after he voluntarily turned himself over to the police at the conclusion of Part 3. A gentleman thief must need to rest after three seasons of action.
The timing, as they say, is impeccable. France has spent the last week demonstrating that if you want to see organized looting, burning barricades, and general property destruction, you don’t have to bother with fiction. Reality has been beating fiction to the punch.
Lupin, for the uninitiated, is Netflix’s most successful French-produced series. It’s a light-hearted show in which Sy’s Assane, who is based on Maurice Leblanc’s centenarian thief, sneaks through Paris museums and grand apartments, stealing priceless artefacts with such ease that you may even consider becoming a thi… tiger. It is an escape. It’s escapism. It also happens to be fantasy. But it’s fantasy where thievers are moral, the violence is choreographed, and the only thing on fire is a distraction.
Part 4 is the continuation of Assane’s imprisonment. He is contemplating a life of serenity in Senegal when someone starts stealing from museums in his name. The thief is implicated and Assanes has to break out of prison and take up the role of Lupin again. It’s a classic “last heist” plot, and it’s executed with the brilliance that has made the series so successful worldwide.
What a shame that the true City of Light has spent the weekend offering its own rather less slick version of events.
The protests started as student protests against school conditions and overcrowded classrooms but quickly evolved into a general protest against the high cost of living. They also drew in the Yellow Vests and many other people who have had enough. By Saturday night, the French interior ministry reported 550,000 protesters across France, with the CGT union claiming there were 800,000 and the police reporting 1,200 arrests and 150 injuries. The total number of arrests went up to nearly 2,400 and nearly 1,000 police injuries, with stores emptying out from Paris to Marseille, Nice to Lille.
The looting, according to AFP, was not committed by people who were simply hungry. Young men with masks and gloves were seen carefully disconnecting security cameras and smashing store windows and removing merchandise from shelves. In Marseille, the Hermès store was looted. In Paris, crowds tried to surge down the Champs-Élysées towards luxury shops. The 143-year-old town hall in Limoges was largely destroyed in the fire. The Lyon tourist office was burned down.
One can barely imagine Assane Diop, a gentleman if ever there was one, setting a fire to a municipal building. Sure, he steals from the rich. But he does it with style and in a well-fitting coat with a good plan that doesn’t involve a balaclava and a can of gasoline. There is a fine line between a crime and thrashing.
Political leaders have handled the situation with their usual poise. President Macron said those who looted even in town halls would be “prosecuted and punished,” which is strong but should be the norm for a state that works. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that the “extreme intensity” of the violence was “a miracle” that the death toll wasn’t “higher.” Marine Le Pen blamed the far left, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed police. Vice President JD Vance from across the Atlantic blamed immigration, because he had to. I’m sure the French wish he wouldn’t.
In the meantime, the Netflix algorithm, which has more knowledge about us than we care to admit, will offer eight episodes of Lupin this week to a country that has watched its cities burn. Netflix, in its infinite wisdom, decided to release all eight episodes simultaneously, each around 45 minutes. Six hours of Paris rooftops, disguises, and Omar Sy’s charms. Six hour of town halls not being burned down.
It’s hard not to feel a sense of remorse about this contrast. The basic idea of Lupin is the story of a man who believes the system is corrupt and decides to beat it—smartly, stylishly, and without hurting anyone who doesn’t deserve it. Assane’s enemies are corrupt oligarchs and corrupt policemen. He uses the dramatic style of the gentleman thief. His crimes are victimless, in the best gentleman-thieve tradition.
The youngsters who spent the weekend raiding an Apple store in Lille and a Carrefour in Paris did not work to such standards. They didn’t commit a heist. They committed a smash-and-grab. And they won’t inspire much sympathy or security cameras.
None of this is to suggest that these protests are not real. The students began the movement with their call for better schools, and the movement grew because many French people are legitimately struggling to pay their rent and feed themselves. That’s real. And destroying a 143-year-old town hall may not be a proportionate response to the situation, but it may be inevitable after people have been ignored for too long.
Still, I cannot help but feel that Assane Diop would have done a better job. Some disguises, a cleverly written letter, escapade with a balloon and a pigeon. The man has standards.
Netflix has declined to comment on whether or not they selected the release date to take advantage of the news cycle, which is wise. But the company has also announced that Part 4 will be the longest season so far with eight episodes rather than five or seven in previous seasons. If you’ve been spending your weekend watching real Paris burning down, you can comfort yourself by watching fictional Paris, where the robbers are likable, the police are dumb, and the worst thing that happens to a museum is that it loses a diamond.
The rest of us can only hope that, by Friday, the real city has settled down enough to allow everyone to enjoy the series. Even if it’s not a perfect match, at least the show is good. And if the timing is a coincidence, it’ll be one that the Netflix public relations department will not mention at all.
Lupin Part 4 is available on Netflix from 23 October.
ALIN DUVILE