Class Act

The life of Bernard Tapie definitely deserved to be told on screen. Absolutely fascinating and absorbing. This man experienced so many things in his lifetime. Good and bad. Straight out of a Tom Wolf novel. Highly recommanded and full of surprises. Laffite does a great job playing the lead role as does Josèphine Jappy playing his wife. It's better if you watch in french with subtitles so you can fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere. Whether or not you are familiar with the real life Bernard Tapie, you will be fascinated by the charisma and audacity of this man. One of my favorite netflix show in 2023.

I belong to those people who admired Bernard Tapie, and believe me, there were millions of them. He was charismatic, unique, the only human being who was a singer, businessman, politician, big and small screen and stage actor, convict, major soccer game team owner - Olympic de Marseille. He was selfish, yes; ruthless, yes; ambitious, yes; charismatic, yes; big big big mouth, yes; liar, yes; fearless, yes; schemer, yes. But no one human being could stay without opinion concerning him.... NO ONE ON EARTH. This series is excellent, however it is at the edge of the caricature, the cartoonesque way of describing him thru his way of talking, behaving, puzzled me a bit. Some awesome sequences, especially in the last episode, with the face to face conversation between Bernard Tapie and attorney Montgolfier. I reviewed it on the seventh episode. They should have mentioned his famous sentence about Diego Maradona, the worldwide known soccer player. Tapie said " That's not someone like him that I want, THAT'S HIM !!!! I remind this sentence, back in the nineties, on TV. But they did not.

I like very much the main actor performance ..he was so natural, so charismatic, so Bernard Tapie and his act make the series so real ..in the other hand .. I like the way the biography was presented ..it was like reading a book .. I didn't know Bernard Tapie before watching the series it make me more curious now about him .. I like also the choice from where they begin the story telling and also the End .. I like the fact that they did'nt make him look like hero or a legend but a human being with his mistakes, ambitions, glories and his "sortir de l'ordinaire" character ..he was a legend just by being himself ..

The scene with Bernard Tapie visiting the State Prosecutor in his office is one of the best scenes I've ever seen.

I was glued to the screen.

Great dialogues, thumbs up to the screen writers. Both using their own strategy & words to intimidate the other. Throwing in some psycholgy of war as well. You could feel the tension in that room. The prosecotur despizing Tapie for what he stands for, not for the human being he is. Very clever. Tapie throwing everything he knows at the prosecutor who keeps his calm.

Truely fascinating to watch. And the mise en scene is amazing, with eye for details, well filmed!

From a working-class background, Bernard Tapie had an insatiable desire for power, a phenomenal capacity for action and a natural charisma. From 1960 to 1990, he created several business, took over companies in difficulty, became a legendary soccer manager, tried his hand at singing and politics. He won, and he failed. Again and again. This hyperactive man had brilliant intuitions, and never let any obstacle discourage him. But he had no scruples either, and left a growing number of unemployed workers in his wake. Caught up in scandal, he embodies France's fascination and contempt for economic success.

Bernard TAPIE... icon of the French businessman, a man who leaves no one indifferent. He's that guy you love to hate. We disapprove of his unscrupulous methods, but we can't help admiring his energy, his determination to shake up the establishment, his naive pugnacity in the face of those born into the strata of power. The rich and powerful never accept those who dare to rise up and join them. They find a thousand invisible ways to restrain and bully them.

We're used to the cynicism of wealthy businessmen who crush the workers in their companies. But Tapie was born in the working class. An empathetic guy who understood the workers. What wouldn't have shocked coming from a man born rich, disappointed coming from him. In the end, that he should have abandoned "his own" along the way, that is the sin French people cannot forgive Bernard Tapie.

The series succeeds in the tour de force of making us love this guy, understand him, admire him without approving of him. The performance of Laurent Lafitte is simply stunning. Episode after episode, we're drawn into the highly symbolic story of an ascent and a fall. Fascinating...