BBC News
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If history judges this to be a golden age of television overflowing with magnificent creations and wonderful spectacle, then Call My Agent! will be considered among the epoch s Crown Jewels.
The exquisitely crafted, beautifully written, brilliantly acted French comedy-drama series about life in a Parisian talent agency is close to perfection, unlike its protagonists who are marvellously flawed.
The show, which started in 2015, has developed over four series and five years from a cult hit into a lockdown sensation.
Season Four has just launched on Netflix, which will be the programme s last hurrah apparently. Let s hope the producers word is as reliable as the double-crossing, endlessly conniving mavericks running the fictional ASK agency. It would be a great shame to consign such a fabulous cast of unbelievably believable, loveably unlovable characters to the back-catalogue just when they ve become a core part of so many people s on-screen
Last modified on Mon 25 Jan 2021 07.51 EST
In France, the hit Netflix series Call My Agent! is called Dix Pour Cent in reference to the fee charged by French cinema agents. For those in the know, the name says it all. For others, like me, the reference was opaque at first, but it sent the message that this is a show – unlike others representing a cliched take on French life, such as Emily in Paris – that positions itself as an insider’s peek into the capital and its movie business.
The many cameos from A-list actors playing themselves – with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sigourney Weaver lined up to appear in season four; Weaver called the series “a love letter to the business” – similarly underlines the show’s proximity to the authentic professional world, something that is subtly shown, too, through its clothes.