[Interview to be found in têtu·’s winter magazine or on subscription.] Exquisite as a sharp, snobbish pédégère in the series Emily in Paris, whose season 5 has just dropped on Netflix, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu is otherwise more approachable than her on-screen character… but just as stylish.
One should hate her… but, how we love her! She is Sylvie Grateau, the cutting boss who bullies the ingénue heroine of Emily in Paris, portrayed by the French actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu. In the vein of a Miranda Priestly in The Devil W wears Prada, the character is a formidable figure, with a self-assured femininity and jubilant arrogance, especially when she puts her male counterparts in their place. We also can’t resist her snobbery, which perfectly fits the clichés about Parisian women. All these traits make her the fans’ favorite character of the series, particularly cherished by the gay audience. A devotion that delights her! We met the 62-year-old actress on the occasion of the release of season 5 of Emily in Paris on Netflix.
- Après cinq saisons, le personnage de Sylvie Grateau ne colle-t-il pas un peu trop à la peau ?
To play a character is to hyperdevelop a small part of oneself. There is perhaps 10% of Sylvie in me… which transforms into 100% during the four months of shooting. But I easily manage to release it afterward. And better so, because living with Sylvie isn’t necessarily a walk in the park!
- Est-ce que ça a toujours été simple de comprendre Sylvie ?
I manage! It isn’t easy to be a monster with 10-cm-high heels. There are moments when she weighs on me. Truly. Some things about her surpass me, and Darren Star [the creator of the series, ed.], isn’t the kind to explain everything to us.
- Entre Sex and the City et Emily in Paris, Darren Star a su créer des personnages féminins forts qui sont devenus des icônes gays… Comme Sylvie !
People keep telling me that Sylvie pleases gay men, and that touches me a lot. But that’s Darren’s signature! There is something very complete in his characters, as if he brings together the best of the masculine and the feminine within them. It’s certainly because he puts a lot of himself and his sensitivity as a gay man into his script. For us, the performers, it’s a real stroke of luck!
- Vous étiez téléspectatrice de Sex and the City ?
In the 1990s, you couldn’t binge-watch [to watch all or part of a season in one go, ed.]. And since I never had the patience to wait for the next episode to air, I didn’t watch series back then. But I caught up with it later, of course!
- Alors, plutôt Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda ou Samantha ?
Why not a mix of several? I love Miranda’s no-nonsense attitude, Carrie’s blue-eyed charm – which is actually quite brilliant in her way of analyzing the world –, Samantha’s bluntness… There’s clearly a touch of Samantha in Sylvie, indeed.
- Pour beaucoup de femmes de sa génération, Sex and the City a représenté quelque chose de libérateur. Y a-t-il une œuvre qui, sur vous, a eu un effet comparable ?
When I was twelve, I watched Cabaret, the film with Liza Minnelli. The director, Bob Fosse, made her into a complete character, with the determined masculinity and the very marked delicacy of femininity. It’s a film that stayed with me for a long time.
- Et le côté snob de Sylvie, c’est de la composition ?
I observe myself enough to recognize that I can sometimes be snobbish. Guilty as charged! I can’t help it, it’s like small protective reflexes.
- Une autre grande similitude que vous avez avec votre personnage, c’est votre goût pour la mode…
I’ve always been immersed in it, because my mother was a stylist. Unwittingly, there are many things I absorbed from her. She was an aesthete; she loved beauty beyond clothes. She could be moved by a landscape just as much as by a painting or a beautiful coat… everything was put on the same plane. And that stuck with me.
- Qu’est-ce qui signe un fashion faux-pas à vos yeux ?
When you don’t look at ease in your clothes. My mother used to say “Sunday-dressed.” The problem isn’t the garment, but how you embody your outfit. I love the English: they often dress any old how, but they own it. When I’m in London, it amuses me!
- Avez-vous déjà regretté un look ?
I didn’t regret any, but I remember a daring look: at 14, I asked my grandmother for violet cowboy boots for Christmas. She was very bourgeois, and I could feel it hurt her to provide them. I wore them with an improbable red jacket and pajama-style pants, sky blue and white. Moreover, I had shaved my hair, leaving only 1 cm on my head. At school, they told me I was eccentric, and I loved it!
- Qu’aurait dit Sylvie en voyant cette tenue ?
“Come on, it’s time for a makeover, I’ll take you shopping!” [Laughter.]
