They both love Lupine, but not the same.
This Saturday, June 5 in the morning, Brigitte and her older daughter Angélique, who came from Lyon for a few days of vacation in Normandy, longtime fans of the most charming of crooks, are among the first visitors to Clos Lupine.
The house museum of Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941), the creator of the gentleman burglar, is located in Étretat, not far from "Aiguille creuse", title of one of his most famous enigmas and one of the two. cliffs that frame the pebble beach.
Brigitte, a young retiree, rolls her eyes when Angélique, an executive in human relations, proclaims her love for Omar Sy, the actor who carries the event series "Lupine" from Netflix, whose new episodes are posted online this Friday: “What a presence!
I really appreciate the humor of the series ”.
To read also "Lupine", season 1, second part: what awaits you this Friday on Netflix
His mother prefers the version of Antenna 2 from the 1970s with Georges Descrières, directly inspired by novels and "more faithful".
“When I was little I watched reruns with my parents, but I really discovered
Lupine
with Omar Sy.
These moments of bravery, like the burglary at the Louvre, in terms of blockbuster, there is no photo, ”smiles the young woman.
Mother and daughter agree on one point: “Lupine generates a lot of fantasies.
We absolutely wanted to see his house ”.
This one, at the entrance of the village, which was called Le sphinx when Leblanc bought it from its publisher and renamed Le Clos Lupine, is an opulent half-timbered villa surrounded by a park where fans wait.
You can only enter four people at a time in these small rooms, including the writer's real office, the only room kept as it is.
Gaëtan Dupont, dressed in 19th century costume and top hat, welcomes tourists for events around the enigmas of Maurice Leblanc.
Eric Houri
Adrien, a very young engineer, and Mélanie, his sports coach friend, who arrive from Paris, smell the places and the plaid - authentic - of the author.
“The series made me want to read the novels.
It's unpretentious, but really damn good, ”smiles Adrien.
The big fans of the character, we meet them two pieces further, near the cinema posters including the splendid one of "Arsène Lupine contre Arsène Lupine" (1962), with Jean-Claude Brialy and Jean-Pierre Cassel.
The favorite scammer of the French is a recipe every time
Elise and especially Charlie, in their thirties, a couple from Lille, who work in photography and artistic direction, know everything about the favorite crook of the French.
“We didn't come to Etretat by chance,” smiles Charlie.
Of
Lupine
, I read enormously kid in Green Library.
The house is super beautiful and full of stories.
Omar Sy, it's not bad, but the plot is a bit telephonic.
On Netflix, we still prefer
Lupine the third
, a great manga about Arsene's grandson.
Lupine, it's endless.
Charlie and Elise, from Lille, went to Étretat to find news about their favorite saga.
Eric Houri
At the store, Charlie unearths a novel that had escaped his gluttony.
Maryse Alix, director of Clos Lupine, is not idle.
“Since the broadcast in January, there is a crazy craze.
Even during the confinement, the store remained open and I sold many copies of the
Lupine
that young Assane reads in the series ”.
On the weekend of Pentecost, Clos Lupine almost broke its attendance record despite a tiny gauge.
Fans were waiting until two o'clock.
“It was the factory.
Omar Sy advertised us, points out the director.
For the first time, Lupine is on the cover of the tourist office brochure, ”she says, pointing to the brochure.
The thief has succeeded in the heist of the century: to dethrone the cliffs and the golf course with the breathtaking view.
"It's a whole world,
Lupine '
At the top of the elephant-shaped cliff, that of the “Aiguille Creuse”, Emma and Sacha, a couple of Parisian students, put their feet on the famous letters D and F on the rocks, which would allow - in the Maurice Leblanc's imagination - to find a secret passage in the cliff.
“My grandparents and my parents read
Lupine
.
Me, it's a universe that I had completely skipped.
Netflix made us want to read it, and Emma gave me one or two.
I realize it's a whole world,
Lupine,
”Sacha wonders.
A universe that sells.
Treasure hunts are on the increase.
Saturday afternoon, Gaëtan Dupont, dressed in a 19th century costume and top hat, welcomes a group for a bachelorette party around Leblanc's enigmas.
And on Sunday morning, Anaïs Dumortier, guide-lecturer based in Le Havre, stages Étretat through the Lupine saga, in front of a dozen people ready to solve in two hours "the Flight of the golden pebbles", which she adapted from 'a novel.
Arsène White, a graphic designer, offers products derived from the “Lupine” saga.
Eric Houri
Lupine is everywhere in Étretat, from the Detective Hotel - the ultimate scam of the burglar, passed over to the police at the end of his life - to the Maison de la Presse Les Trésors d'Arsène, largely devoted to books, mugs, pens , notebooks, rules and placemats bearing the image of the hero.
A local artist - Arsène White, do you have it? - sells his own posters in his Best of 76 store: “I took my nickname out of passion for Maurice Leblanc ten years ago, but customers think it is. opportunism, he jokes.
Before Netflix, my framed Lupine poster, I sold a few a month.
Now a few a day ”.
In Étretat, the countless by-products are local.
Lupine has stolen a lot, but today he enriches a whole village.
The last straw for a village victim of “over-frequentation”?
However, this success is not without consequences. Omar Sy invited himself in spite of himself to the Senate. A question to the government on the risk of an influx of fans in Étretat, was asked on April 8 by the senator of Seine-Maritime related LR, Agnès Canayer. This appealed to the Secretary of State for Tourism. Étretat, a village enclosed between two cliffs, suffers structurally "from over-frequentation", with more than a million tourists per year, and "this attractiveness is still valued by the television series
Lupine
", warned the latter in front of the senators .
Netflix, the last straw for an already popular seaside resort, due to its proximity to Île-de-France?
Some Étretatais assure it, or fear it, especially with the return of foreign travelers.
"Everyone here makes a living from tourism, but it must be managed," warns Shaï-Hanah Mallet-Bitton, president of the Association for the Defense of the Etretat site.
When a series is world number 1 in 49 countries, the reopening of borders will pose problems.
We expect a complicated summer with the Lupine madness.
We need a plan of measures to limit over-tourism ”.
"My nephew appears in the series"
This adversary, the greatest of thieves, would never have imagined it. "We would like to contact Omar Sy so that he educates the public about ecotourism", even hopes the president of the association, who is afraid of a flood of cars parked anywhere. She points out that the hashtag # Étretat "is very sought after on Instagram and in very strong growth since the series and the Lupine phenomenon". Fear of the lack of parking on a site of only 4 square km and of weekends where tourists already rub shoulders.
But not all are of the same opinion. “There is pride in being Lupin's stronghold. Many locals played the extras in the two episodes of the series which were shot there, recalls Maryse Alix, director of Clos Lupine. You had to register at the town hall and there were a lot of people. All the fake Lupines from episode 5 on the beach are from Etretatians. "
In June 2020, three months after the scheduled date, because of the March containment, the whole team around Omar Sy landed in the village.
And no one has butted on the selfies.
"My nephew appears in the series," smiles a resident.
Shaï-Hanah Mallet-Bitton, she reports that she was told that large advertising posters for Étretat were displayed on the walls of a Chinese airport.
In fact, no one knows how far the phenomenon will go.
Les Tilleuls, one of the most beautiful villas in the town, huge and hidden in the heart of a lush garden in the city center, hosted a filming scene from season 1. The Netflix staff, who discovered the place at the last moment, was staying elsewhere.
"We could welcome Omar Sy if he comes back" smiles one of the officials.
At least he's sure to be well received by everyone.
Information on
the Havre-Étretat tourist office website
Clos Lupine,
15, rue Guy-de-Maupassant in Étretat (Seine-Maritime).
Every day except Monday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. (no reservations possible).
Prices: from 5 to 7.50 euros.