# Class Act (2023)

> A relentlessly ambitious working-class man rises to become one of France's most controversial public figures in this fictionalized biopic of Bernard Tapie.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/123836

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 54 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Tristan Séguéla, Olivier Demangel
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Laurent Lafitte, Joséphine Japy, Patrick d'Assumçao, Ophélia Kolb, Camille Chamoux, Ivan Murphy, David Talbot, Sarah Suco
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27921612/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: brash, glossy, restless, tense, charismatic

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive, with viewers praising the lead performance and the fictionalized portrait of a controversial figure.

## Synopsis

Class Act (2023) is a French miniseries created by Tristan Séguéla and Olivier Demangel and released on Netflix. Laurent Lafitte plays Bernard Tapie, a relentlessly ambitious working-class man who climbs into the upper ranks of French business and public life, while Joséphine Japy plays Dominique Tapie and Ophélia Kolb plays Michèle Tapie, the women whose lives are pulled along by his appetite for success. Antoine Reinartz appears as lawyer Maître Fabien Bogaert, and David Talbot as the judge Eric de Montgolfier, figures who press in on his legal troubles. The engine of the story is the protagonist's refusal to stop climbing, as each deal, rivalry and public spectacle raises the stakes and invites scrutiny. Told across seven episodes of roughly fifty-four minutes, it is a fictionalized biopic that moves through the business dealings, sporting ambitions and political scandals that made its subject one of the country's most polarizing personalities. The tone is glossy, brash and restless, with charismatic excess at its centre and a steady undercurrent of unease about money, image and power. Viewers who enjoy the prestige biography of The Crown or the ruthless ambition of Succession will find a similar appetite for a flawed, magnetic figure. Set in France during the 1980s and 1990s, it is a limited series for adults that treats its subject as both a symbol and a cautionary study.

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