Yes we cancan
French period drama Montmartre tells a family story that unfolds within the iconic Parisian district of the same name. Aline Panel of producer Authentic Prod explains how she overcame tight budgets to make the show, and details her plans for a number of historical series set across the French capital.
Found in the shadow of the towering dome of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, the charming Parisian district of Montmartre is famed for its association with artists like Picasso, Renoir and Van Gogh, its quaint village feel and the iconic windmill of the Moulin Rouge.
Now it lends its name to a six-part drama set against the backdrop of this bustling, provocative neighbourhood and its famed cabarets at the end of the 19th century.
Coming soon to French broadcaster TF1, Montmartre introduces Céleste (Alice Dufour), a determined cancan dancer who decides to sacrifice her reputation by becoming Paris’s first nude performer. It’s a choice she makes to fund the search for her two long-lost siblings, the trio having been separated after their father’s murder.
The lost brother and sister in question are Arsène (Victor Meutelet) and Rose (Claire Romain), both of whom remain in the French capital. Arsène is a wealthy young engineer who confronts societal pressures after he breaks off an arranged marriage to embrace his true sexuality, and subsequently unearths deeply buried family secrets. Rose, meanwhile, is a laundress with dreams of a simple life, who narrowly escapes forced confinement in a brothel amid a battle for survival. Unaware of their blood ties, the siblings’ fates intertwine, converging in the turbulent streets of Montmartre.
With a cast that also includes Hugo Becker, Mathilde Seigner, Thibault de Montalembert and Mikaël Mittelstadt, the series comes from producer Authentic Prod, which is known for shows including Sam and Le Temps est assassin. Montmartre reunites Authentic CEO Aline Panel with series creators Julien Simonet and Brigitte Bémol after their collaboration on Je te promets, the French remake of US drama This is Us.
“I’m very happy because it was quite a difficult show to build,” Panel tells DQ as the final touches are being added to the series ahead of its premiere later this year. “Twice we thought we might not be able to do it because of money problems. We thought a streamer would come [on board the project] with TF1, but that hasn’t been the case. We were in a difficult year, 2024, a difficult year for all television shows, and especially because it’s a period drama.”
But such is the relationship between Authentic Prod and TF1 that the broadcaster greenlit the series without additional financing. It was then up to Panel to work out how to make the show on a tighter budget, with Disney+ later taking secondary rights to the show in France once its execs watched the production rushes.
“That’s why the result is really very good. In my mind, you don’t see that there is less money,” she continues. “The acting is brilliant. Some of them are not well known, but they are very sincere. They are their characters.”
Working with unknown actors has brought Panel success in the past, with Guillaume Labbé, a former rugby player who broke out as an actor in Je te promets, being a particularly notable example. “Now everyone wants Guillaume Labbé,” says the exec. “At that time, he was the perfect unknown person – and that’s what we did with Alice Dufour, who is completely the role [of Céleste] because she is a dancer in real life.
“She’s not known at all, so she’s Céleste first for the viewer because the viewer will discover her as Céleste and not as lots of other roles she could have had before. That’s also very interesting for us because this is the story of a family, two sisters and a brother, who were separated when they were born because their father was murdered and the mother [died in childbirth].”
In the show, after the tragic events that marked their early lives, the siblings were sold into different environments across Paris, making it unlikely that they will ever cross paths.
“But we wanted them to be at the beginning of their lives, when everything is possible, and if you believe in life, even when nothing is possible for you, you can become someone. You can find someone, you can find a love, a reason to be,” Panel says. “It was important to have young people to act in these roles. Normally in France when you want a well-known actor, a famous actor, they are more than 40 years old. It wouldn’t have been good for our show, and TF1 was OK with that.”
Casting unknowns also helped bring costs down. Another tactic to balance the budget was to put the money the production did have where it mattered – the cabaret and dance sequences. A 360-degree stage was built to support full choreography for those key moments, with Panel finding herself producing not just a television drama but also spectacular stage shows, which also involved numerous rehearsals.
“I had to prepare the [cabaret] shows before filming them, so I put the money there,” she says. “I don’t think the story needs to be in lots of locations, so we reduced the number of locations, but you won’t see it when you watch the show. It doesn’t impact the story. This is the main adjustment we did. In period drama, what is most expensive is locations.”
Just two days were spent filming on location in Montmartre, with street and interior sets built at an old psychiatric hospital. A windmill was also constructed, while the basilica was added to the skyline in post-production, “so you really think you are in Montmartre,” Panel says. “That’s how we managed to do it without being in Montmartre. It’s very expensive and very difficult to shoot in Paris when you’re not American [with the resources of a major US studio], and nowadays everything [in the streets] is from today, so we have to transform everything in post-production. That means it’s better to have our own street dated [in the right period style] at the beginning.”
Unsurprisingly, given the show’s title, recreating the atmosphere of Montmartre was one of Panel and director Louis Choquette’s chief considerations, and this is clear in the cabaret and dance scenes. “It’s the spirit we wanted to recreate with Montmartre,” Panel says, noting that the show doesn’t slavishly follow history. “Even the costumes – one of the men wears jeans. At that time, jeans [weren’t common] in Paris but they existed, so it’s possible. Everything we did could be possible, but there’s a bit more ‘pop’ and modernity to make it interesting for a contemporary audience, who need to recognise things and be entertained too. So there are lots of colours; more colours than at that period, probably. There are also themes that echo with today.”
One of the show’s key themes is that of family – a natural starting point for Panel, who is one of 10 children and has four of her own. And Montmartre isn’t just about the family you’re born into, but the one you find as well.
“Céleste thinks when she finds her brother and sister, her life will be successful. She will have achieved her goal,” Panel says. “But not at all, she will be very disappointed, and they will have to build a family. But building this family, they will gather other people. A family is, most of all, the people you choose. That’s what we want to show, and that’s why it’s modern and not only a period drama.
“The second thing we want to say is everything is possible, even if you don’t have parents, if you don’t belong to the bourgeoisie. It seems to me very important today to say everything is possible, especially for the poorest people.”
With the launch of Montmartre coming soon, Panel is already turning her attention to a possible sequel that would form part of a trilogy of Parisian “postcards” set in different districts within the French capital at different points in the 20th century.
Writing has already started on a follow-up called Montparnasse – which became known as a centre of freedom, creativity and social diversity, and for its jazz music and surrealist painters like Chagall – with a story set between the two world wars. Simonet, Bémol and Choquette are all returning.
A potential third series would then focus on Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 1950s, which is characterised by the Café de Flores and Les Deux Magots, two cafés popularised by creatives including Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.
“My idea is to propose a collection about neighbourhoods of Paris well known in the 20th century for [being places of] freedom, creativity, social mixes and where everything is possible,” Panel says. “We are waiting for the audience [ratings] for Montmartre to be sure to go or not with Montparnasse. But we are preparing the writing,” Panel says.
In the meantime, the producer is hopeful that its authentic period setting and the family story at its heart mean Montmartre will find an audience.
“It’s something that is very organic to me. Everything I do at Authentic Prod is authentic,” she adds. “That’s the only way I can be sure I can try to get a success, because it’s sincere and something I believe in. If I believe in it, I think the viewers will believe too.”
Like that? Watch this! Suggested by AI, selected by DQ
Harlots: Two rival brothels wage a merciless battle for power and survival in the shadowy streets of 18th century London, where women’s ambition clashes with society’s expectations.
Le Bazar de la Charité: After a tragic fire upends their lives, three women find their destinies forever altered as they navigate scandal, grief and the search for truth in Belle Époque Paris.
Gentleman Jack: Sharp-witted landowner Anne Lister breaks all the rules of 1830s England, risking her place in society for the woman she loves.
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tagged in: Aline Panel, Authentic Prod, Disney, Montmartre, TF1