Class Act on Netflix follows the events in the controversial life of French businessman Bernard Tapie who rose from the ground to become the most popular name in France at one point.
Focusing on the life of the famous French businessman and television host Bernard Tapie, Class Act covers the adventurous outings of a man who once dominated the French social and political circles through his charm and words. Featuring the talented Laurent Lafitte in the shoes of Tapie, Netflix’s Class Act picks up from the mid-60s and follows the man until his eventual prison sentence in 1997. Backed by a talented cast that includes Fabrice Luchini, Patrick d’Assumçao, Joséphine Japy, and Antoine Reinartz, Class Act follows the highs and lows of a man whose life once defined success and ambition for the French. Class Act‘s ending highlights the eventual downfall of Tapie and the events that led to it.
Class Act Summary
In 1997, as Bernard Tapie (Laurent Lafitte) is being taken to his prison cell, the many chants of the surrounding prisoners shouting his name falls on his ears, bringing the memories of his life, dictated by his dream of achieving fame, back to him.
In 1966, Bernard Tapie was an aspiring singer trying to make it big in the music industry. He even borrows money from Robert to achieve his dream, only to find out that finding stardom isn’t a piece of cake. Fast forward to 1970, even Robert refuses to help Bernard with money but he does lend him his suit for a meeting with bankers from Banque de Sarnez.
Bernard Tapie Formulates His First Successful Business
During the meeting, Bernard pitches his presumably billion-dollar idea – he intends to create a subscription-based electronics store from where customers can get their hands on electronic products for a monthly subscription. As per Bernard, the catch is that he will be able to understand the demand through subscriptions and he will lower the price accordingly to attract customers. Much to Tapie’s disappointment, he only evokes ridicule from the bankers.
At the same time, Tapie faces the heat from his wife Michelle (Ophélia Kolb) when the family stands on the verge of being evicted from their house. Unfortunately, despite Michelle’s insistence, Tapie refuses to work with his father because Tapie’s ambition continues to fuel his pride. Eagerly looking for investors for his project, Tapie comes across Marcel Loiseau (Fabrice Luchini) who’s keen on buying the garage owned by Tapie’s friend, Farid (Hakim Jemili). On meeting Macrel, Tapie receives the validation he badly desires. Along with the validation, Marcel also hands Tapie a 100,000 Francs cheque to get his business started. In return, Marcel gets his hands on 60 percent of the venture.
When Tapie shares the news of the deal with his family, he only faces an apprehensive attitude from his father, Jean-Baptiste Tapie (Patrick d’Assumçao), and his wife, Michelle. Having witnessed Tapie’s ever-changing ambitions to make it big, Tapie’s father and wife find the risk in playing with such a huge amount of money too big.
Proving his critics wrong, Tapie makes a strong start with his store, employing cutthroat marketing tactics to grow his business and attract a greater number of customers. But the family situation keeps getting worse for Bernard when he starts developing a relationship with Loiseau’s secretary, Dominique (Joséphine Japy). Greater trouble follows when Loiseau tries to sideline Tapie in his plan for expansion and tries to limit Tapie’s role. He also warns Tapie against being involved with Dominique.
Tapie Tries to Revolutionize Medical Services in France
Pushed to the corner, Tapie finds another great idea for his second business – one he plans to take up without Loiseau. When Tapie’s father gets a cardiac arrest, Tapie realizes the bad condition of the emergency medical response in France. He shares with Dominique the idea of starting a similar subscription service for medical services. But before Tapie can develop his plan further, he discovers that irking Loiseau is a bad idea. Not only does Loiseau spill the truth about Tapie’s association with Dominique in front of Tapie’s entire family but also snatches away Tapie’s ownership in the electronics store business through a legal battle. As a result, the court snatches Tapie’s legal right to own a business.
Consequently, Tapie starts his next business – a medical subscription service – in the name of his new partner, Dr. Serge, who originally helped Tapie come up with the idea. Through his new business, Tapie aims to deliver medical emergencies in 30 minutes to anyone who is in need. In his endeavor to achieve quick success, Tapie fails to take into account the operational hurdles he would face. After a man is saved from a near-death situation, Serge pulls out of the venture, not willing to put his reputation at stake and putting an end to Tapie’s new business.
By the year 1972, Tapie started working with his father in the heating business he owned. Michelle also agrees to let Tapie be around his daughter more, considering how things have gone against Tapie’s plans in life. Despite Tapie adjusting to the working man’s life, the bitterness in him, rooted in his failures, affects his attitude toward Dominique, creating cracks in their relationship.
When Tapie sees his relationship with Dominique hitting an end, he realizes that it’s not time for him to give up yet. This realization prompts Tapie to look for Fabien (Antoine Reinartz), Loiseau’s brilliant lawyer. He asks Fabien a simple question – how can he buy a company with one Franc in the same way Loiseau bought his share in the first company? Fabien suggests that he can apply to buy a company in debt but he will need to convince the court about his credibility.
To this effect, Tapie comes up with a solid plan. He plans to buy a debt-ridden company Diguet-Deny using another company, Divurger Printing Company. He plans that firstly, he will buy the company from the woman who owns it at a discount of 500,000 Francs after negotiating his way with her. For the 2.5 million Francs purchase, he will borrow money from a banker and use the money to buy Divurger Printing Company, which has a cash flow of 3 million Francs. He will then put the 3 million Francs in the pocket of the banker, who will end up making 500,000 Francs in profit in one day.
Consequently, Tapie will have the credibility of the Divurger Company and the banker backing him, facilitating his purchase of Diguet-Deny. When Fabien points out Tapie’s legal troubles with owning a company, Tapie suggests that he’s found a way out of this problem as well. Tapie seeks Dominique’s help to buy the company in her name.
Tapie and Dominique Turn the Tide for Diguet-Deny
In six months, Tapie and Dominique manage to turn around the fortunes of Diguet-Deny, making the once debt-ridden business profitable. Moreover, Tapie and Dominique are happy and pregnant. At the same time, Tapie’s hunt for his next takeover continues. When Tapie comes to know that Dominique’s friend’s boyfriend, Alexis (Julien Frison), is going to buy Wonder Batteries, he decides to beat Alexis to it. The only problem remains that he would need more than one Franc to get his hands on Wonder, a multinational battery maker. This is when Fabien suggests the prospect of selling Diguet-Deny to buy Wonder from the money received from the sale.
After briefly considering selling Diguet-Deny, Tapie drops the idea in the interest of the factory workers. Instead, he continues to depend on the power of one Franc. Unfortunately, the union workers, who have the ultimate say in the matter, only find Tapie’s idea of offering one Franc for the deal ridiculous when they have an offer of 350 million France from Alexis. Wondering how Alexis got his hands on the amount for the purchase, Tapie puts up a scheme to get a confession from him.
Sending one of his friends in the guise of the Emir of Dubai, Tapie finds out that Alexis’ plan involves selling off one of Wonder’s factories and laying off workers. Ultimately, Alexis will outsource the company. When the union finds out about Alexis, they decide to take Tapie’s offer. But Tapie’s takeover of Wonder comes with bad news for Diguet-Deny. On studying the finances of Wonder, Fabien finds out about Wonder’s massive debt. Ultimately, to cover Wonder’s debts, Tapie sells Diguet-Deny against his initial promise.
How Did Bernard Tapie Become a Politician?
Eight years later, in 1986, Tapie has not been able to replicate his success at Wonder. In the face of layoffs, the workers are protesting, but Tapie remains busy shooting the first episode of a live show he has put together, refusing to meet the workers. Ultimately, on finding that his father has been held hostage by the workers, Tapie decides to have a word with the leader of the union workers.
With some persuasion from his father, Tapie manages to make a deal with the workers, diffusing the tension for the moment. The discussion that happens also motivates Tapie to improvise the opening of his show, and he ends up delivering a passion-filled speech for his show, titled ‘Success’, which focuses on small business ventures from all across France.
Coincidentally, Tapie’s powerful speech catches the fascination of the man in the country’s highest office, the President of France. The President sees an opportunity in the passion, intelligence, and intent showcased by Tapie, who’s offered a way into the country’s politics by the President. After taking over the global sporting giant Adidas and having achieved everything he desired, Tapie sets his eyes on the political dream in front of him – something that does not receive the warmest response from Dominique.
By 1992, Tapie had made his way to the office of Minister of Urban Affairs. In his new position, Tapie continues to opt for his unorthodox ways, which doesn’t excite his staff much. Meanwhile, Dominique struggles to keep the businesses afloat, with massive debt hanging over their head. Too busy with handling his job as a Minister and managing the affairs of the football club Olympique de Marseille (OM), Tapie hands the responsibility of managing the businesses to Dominique. Sadly, Dominique is informed that the group is sitting on a debt, which is a ticking nuclear bomb.
Bernard’s Political Career Takes a Catastrophic Hit
While Tapie is still learning to inspire social change through his political moves, he is paid a visit by an old associate, Charles Coupant, who blackmails him based on a cheque that Tapie received for his sale of Diguet-Denys. Placing his confidence in his unparalleled power, Tapie rubbishes the threat and focuses on his debate with Le Pen, a popular French activist from The Front National. To his credit, Tapie manages to receive some credit from the President for his fiery debate on live television, but he continues to ignore Dominiqe’s warnings about the debt at hand. He plainly refutes the idea of selling Adidas to focus on a housing project plan devised by him.
Charles Coupant’s threats finally materialize when the Supreme Court summons Tapie in the case. However, it’s Tapie’s naivety that gets the better of him as he decides to put the telephone on speaker during a conversation in which the President suggests he will put pressure on the judiciary. The conversation is heard by others in the room and someone leaks it to the press. On facing allegations by the media, the President forces Tapie to give his resignation.
Class Act Ending Explained
Finally, out of the political office, Tapie decides to set his priorities right. Firstly, with the help of Dominique, Tapie neutralizes the threat from Charles Coupant by forcing him to push down the compensation he’s seeking. Tapie and Dominique hold Charles’ illegal tax evasion against him to force his hand. Next, Tapie shifts his focus to OM which is a potential contender for the European Cup, with just two matches to go.
When OM loses the first of the two matches, Tapie starts dictating the team tactics and starts meddling from behind the scenes. Tapie’s political ambitions are fueled once again when he receives an offer from one of his former associates at the Ministry of Urban Affairs. If OM wins the European Cup, Tapie would have a shot at becoming the Mayor of Marseilles and possibly, the President of France, one day. With OM qualifying for the final, Tapie sees his political dream materializing once again, but this time, Dominique decides to opt-out, not wanting to see Tapie crash and burn once again.
Does OM Win the Champions League?
With being only one match away from Champions League victory, Tapie starts seeing his dream of being the mayor of Marseilles come true. To get the win by hook or crook, Tapie tasks his team’s manager, Jean-Pierre Bernés, with fixing the match in his team’s favor by bribing the players of Valenciennes, their opponents before the Champions League final. An easy victory against Valenciennes would mean that OM’s players will have more energy for the cup final. Despite being against the deal, one of the players, Jacques Glassman, plays along under the pressure of his teammates. But after the match, Glassman decides to file a complaint against his teammates, foiling Tapie and Jean-Pierre’s plans.
When caught red-handed, Tapie decides to refute the allegations claiming that Glassman’s claims are rooted in his insecurity emanating from Valenciennes’ impending ouster from the league. Moreover, he questions why he’d bribe players from a team at the last of the points table. The crisis also paves the way for Dominique to return to Tapie. Thankfully, Tapie’s orchestration assists him for the time being, and Olympique de Marseille ends up lifting the Champions League after defeating AC Milan in the final. The win further solidifies Tapie’s political campaign for the post of Mayor and his legendary status among the citizens of France.
On the other hand, Glassman pays a visit to Prosecutor Éric de Montgolfier who gives a fair warning to Glassman about the tactics OM will employ to discredit him. However, Glassman continues to demonstrate resilience. Meanwhile, the police find the money, paid by Tapie to one of the players, buried in the player’s aunt’s garden. When Jean-Pierre is summoned by Montgolfier, Tapie dives in to save the day, knowing that Jean-Pierre might spill the truth under pressure. Late at night, he pays a visit to Montgolfier to talk about the allegations against OM and Jean-Pierre.
How Did Bernard Tapie End Up in Prison?
Like always, Tapie believes he can work the magic of his words and get Montgolfier to his side. Montgolfier, who initially pretends to not know much about the case, keeps playing along with the theories put forth by Tapie, dismantling each theory presented by the President of Olympique de Marseille. In Montgolfier, Tapie faces a type of resistance he has rarely seen before.
At last, when lies do not seem to work, Tapie tries to convince the prosecutor through the power of money and coercion, only to realize that unlike many he has faced, Montgolfier is one who is not ready to be bought. Catching Tapie’s constant lies, Montgolfier persuades Tapie to confess his crime and get a lenient prison sentence in return. In Montgolfier, the great Bernard Tapie meets his match. At the end of Class Act, Montgolfier calls out Tapie for selling fake dreams to thousands of children in France by acting as a dream maker.
In 1997, a large crowd of journalists have gathers outside Bernard Tapie’s house while Tapie prepares himself before leaving for the La Santé Prison to serve his eight-month-long prison sentence in the Valenciennes players’ bribery case. True to his word, Montgolfier has put the once Minister of the Republic behind bars. Hidden in the trunk of his father’s car, Bernard Tapie travels to the prison where he’s welcomed by loud cheers of the other inmates. Even in prison, Bernard Tapie’s fame precedes him.
At possibly his lowest moment in life, Tapie finds his hands shaking as he tries to acclimatize to a life in prison. During Dominique’s first visit to the prison, Tapie presents his idea of selling his businesses and retiring at last, in the interest of his family and himself. Finally, Bernard Tapie realizes that it is his life that defines his name and not his name that defines his life. He was not born the Bernard Tapie everyone knows but he became the Bernard Tapie everybody in France identified with. This recognition was his true achievement in life.
All episodes of Class Act are available to stream on Netflix.
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