If this then that

If you are thrilled by the clever, high-stakes heists in Ocean’s 11 series of films….

If you enjoy the Ocean’s multi-layered story telling where characters may be a hero or a villain, or both….

If you relish flashbacks of Tony Soprano’s childhood and early life of crime….

And, if you value the Sopranos as a character and family drama more than a criminal action story….

Then Lupin is the next binge-watching series for you!

I’ve always enjoyed clever dramas where, if the crooks don’t have a full heart of gold, they have a good reason for their crimes. Those stories are even better if the criminals have an ingenious plan and a real sense of style. Assane Diop, hero in Netflix’s series Lupin, has those qualities. His slight of hand is so impressive that he single-handedly surpasses even Danny Ocean while he steals gems and pursues justice.

The series begins with a scene that rivals the meticulous planning for one of Ocean’s heists. It is the middle of the night in Paris and the Louvre courtyard is brightly lit. Inside, the cleaning crew passes through high-security checkpoints. Then they enter the galleries of artistic treasures. One man pauses in his work. Looking up at the most famous painting in the museum, he smiles the same secret smile as the Mona Lisa. Later, in another gallery, he pauses in front of the glass case protecting a fabulous diamond necklace said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette and now owned by the wealthy Pellegrini family As he is joined by fellow worker, Diop comments, “So this is the Queen’s Necklace?” “Next week it goes up for auction and should bring twenty million,” his fellow janitor teases. “You can afford it….in a million years.” The overhead security camera captures Diop’s image in an eerie shade of blue as he walks away.

Is this the set-up for a spectacular robbery? In a word, yes! And it is first of many crimes in Lupin the five-part series that debuted in January 2021 on Netflix with another five episodes beginning in the summer of 2021.

There is a heist and it is spectacular. Slight of hand is Diop’s stock-in-trade. With his simple disguises and character shifts he successfully fools almost all around him. They don’t see the criminal genius behind what they expect him to be an invisible black man moving through modern French society.

In the first seven minutes of episode one we see three different Assane Diops: the spying Louvre janitor, the loving, yet flawed ex-husband and father, and a down-and-out crook who is throttled by the bigger, bumbling, crooks to whom he owns money. As in his Louvre exchange with his fellow janitor, each of these scenes sets plot and character expectations for the rest of the series.

The morning following his gallery shift, Assane meets his ex-wife Claire in a cafe for coffee. He pledges that “he’s changed” and confesses that he’s “not been much of a father” to their young teenaged son, Raoul. He explains that he now has a job and tries to give her what he considers “late alimony” in a rubber-banded roll of cash. Claire refuses the payment saying that he “should buy a gift for Raoul.” She kisses him on the cheek as she walks out of the café. After she crosses the street she puts her hands in her pockets, discovering the money and an origami flower Assane secretly made from the café receipt. She looks back to the window where he still sits, giving her a wistful, amused smile.

Later, with a totally different demeanor, Diop, dressed in a dark hoodie, walks to a dingy mid-century-designed apartment complex with his head down in a hopeless lope. He’s there to confess to the crooks that he doesn’t have the money they’re expecting. The two musclemen of the gang of four nearly toss him off the high balcony. He begs for a chance and promises them “more money than they can ever spend.” Instead of arranging payment, Diop dangles the promise of a huge payday before Vincent, the ineffectual crime boss. When he hears that Diop is just a janitor, Vincent again instructs the thugs to toss him. In a flash, Diop grabs the arm of the larger thug and, much to the shock of everyone in the room, turns him around, bending him over in a martial arts style move. His explanation to the gang is key to understanding his criminal success and an important part of the series premise.

Diop explains, “You underestimated me. You didn’t look at me. You saw me, but you didn’t look at me. Just like the people I work for. Everyone on that side of the river thinks that they’re on the top and we’re on the bottom.” He explains his plan to steal the Queen’s Necklace. Diop looks at Vincent explaining that he “needs someone who is quiet and decisive and he also needs muscle.” Vincent buys in to what Diop is selling and the clumsy gang signs on. And that’s just the first ten minutes.

At its heart, Lupin all about family—many different families: Assane’s childhood family, the family he makes for himself with school friends after his is orphaned, his ex-wife and son, the rich, powerful Pellegrini family that is equally clever and relentless in the protection of what is theirs, and even the Paris police whose officers have a familial relationship. Assane’s skills of observation and life of crime are inspired by the classic French mystery novels by Maurice Leblanc. One of them, the first in the series Arsene Lupin: Gentleman Thief, is a treasured gift from his father. The book is both a talisman and an inspiration for his life. He follows Lupin’s style committing crimes more by wit and innovation not violence. Diop continues the style of gentleman burglar.

There is, however, a serious mystery that that motivates Assane’s life: Why did his father, who used to work for the Pellegrini family, die in jail?

Flashbacks explore Assane’s childhood and his younger adult years. We glimpse his relationships, some quite surprising. There are moments of unexpected kindness, along with ruthlessness toward those who have wronged him and his family. Each new chapter in the series brings more and more people into our view. All of them have significant backstories. They interact with Assane Diop in complex ways.

To write more would reveal too many spoilers. I will warn that episode five ends with a dramatic cliffhanger. Lupin is definitely binge-worthy. I see more details every time I watch in this multi-layered drama that is much more clever than violent, although there is danger, injury, and death.

Lupin stars Omar Sy as Assane Dip and Ludivine Sagnier as Claire. The series was created by George Kay and Francoise Uzan for Netflix. It was produced in French and excellently dubbed into English.

So, if you delight in action where the hero outwits and outruns the police only to turn and give them a salute from a distance. If you appreciate well-written adventures of retribution, vengeance, and justice. And if you value well-acted dramas with wonderful production values and plot surprises, Lupin is here for you to enjoy. You’ll see Paris with new eyes--looking beyond the tourist monuments. Lupin is a window into the complexity of today’s French society, and perhaps our own.

I think I have to watch it again.