A miniseries freely adapted from the life of Bernard Tapie. The first two episodes of carpet (the original title wonder man has been abandoned since the rights belong to Marvel), fiction co-created by director Tristan Séguéla and novelist and screenwriter Olivier Demangel, were screened this Sunday evening in the prestigious hall of the Louis-Lumière auditorium at the Palais des Festivals. This fiction, expected on September 13 on Netflix, is already at the heart of a controversy. “I’ll stop you right now, it’s no! “, had declared the main interested party before his death when Tristan Séguéla had announced his biopic project to him, reports the JDD. “Disrespect has no limit” reviled his daughter, Sophie Tapie, on Instagram. So what is this miniseries worth, in light of the first two episodes that 20 minutes seen at CannesSeries?
“He’s a very complex character, and he’s interesting because he’s complex. It is not a question of making him a saint, nor of charging him either, but trying to be as objective as possible to tell his incredible journey, ”defended Laurent Lafitte, who masterfully embodies Bernard Tapie on the screen. and co-produced fiction, on the pink carpet of the Côte d’Azur festival.
This seven-part miniseries begins in 1966 when Bernard Tapie tries to break into the song, until 1997, when he finds himself in prison. The resident of the French comedy hopes to have made the portrait “as objective as possible, with all the fascination it can cause, but also the questions, the interrogations, the gray areas, the mischief, the intelligence. »
A miniseries that assumes its share of fiction
At the start of each episode, a disclaimer reminds us that the miniseries is inspired by real events, but romances and modifies certain details concerning the private life of the former OM boss. Tapie fully assumes his part of fiction: Stéphane and Nathalie, the two children born of Tapie’s first union, become a single character, Stéphanie, in the series.
The first two episodes paint the portrait of a dashing young man, overflowing with ideas and energy, as talkative as he is charismatic. This son of a suburban heating engineer, in lack of paternal recognition, dreams of extracting himself from his condition, without denying his proletarian origins.
Reckless in business, disarming in love
He first tries his hand at singing, participating in a telecrochet alongside Michel “Polonareff”, then launches into the sale of household appliances, the creation of a medical assistance service, and finally, in the acquisition of companies in difficulty for the symbolic sum of one franc. “Clap! Remember this name well because there will be a before and an after,” he brags tenaciously when the door is slammed in his face. The second episode sometimes takes on the appearance of a romantic comedy when it depicts the budding relationship between the businessman and Dominique, his second wife.
The screening session ended with a round of applause. Rhythmic, funny and touching, served by an impeccable cast (Joséphine Japy, Fabrice Luchini, Ophelia Kolb), carpet paints the portrait of a man, certainly sometimes barker, but out of the ordinary. Not sure that Bernard Tapie would not have appreciated!