brendastern

This is exactly the snappy, smart comedy/drama that Emily in Paris strives to be, but is let down by its poor writing. I speak French and come from a French background, so I probably enjoyed Call My Agent more than some viewers. There are inside cultural references, not to mention the fast dialogue, that only register if you have some familiarity with French work and home life. The reason I gave it nine rather than 10 stars was that the show was running out of ideas by S4, and some of the characters had become annoying, Gabriel, Sophie and Colette in particular. Conversely, Hicham was fascinating and the tension between him and Andrea was delicious. Jean Reno was absolutely wonderful, and I was happy to see older French female stars get attention. I'll be interested to see what happens with the movie.

The Crown is certainly a beautiful drama. There was no expense spared in replicating some iconic scenes. But from the first episode onward, there are some significant historic inaccuracies that detract from the production.

The most grievous is in the way the writers frame the roles of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. For one thing, it's clearly documented that she fled England before his abdication. She did not sit by his side while he gave the abdication speech. She was in France, sobbing her eyes out.

And, she only met Queen Mary once, at a ball, and only for a moment. However, she took steps to heal the rift, and the Queen famously added a PS to a letter saying, "I send a kind message to your wife." By the 1950s, there was barely any contact between the Palace and the Windsors. They were off in Paris or in New York, and there were no circumstances under which he would have been an adviser to the Queen. This is all fabricated.

Also, one of the writers must have it in for the Queen Mother, because her portrayal is nothing like the friendly, fun loving woman that she was. She's almost unrecognizable.

My advice to anyone watching is to consider this as "inspired by" the life of the Queen, but by no means take it as fact.