The world is an absolute dumpster fire right now, and if you need a quick break from all of the doom and gloom of the news cycle, Netflix's popular new romantic comedy series Emily in Paris (from Sex and the City and Younger mastermind Darren Star) is the perfect show to help you forget your woes for a little bit and escape into a delectable world of workplace gossip, French food and wine, sex, hot guys, social media scandals, and complicated AF friendships.
And PRIDE got to chat with Emily herself — lead star Lily Collins — about Emily and Camille, one of the show's most complex and dynamic duos!
For the uninitiated, Lily plays the series' titular character Emily, an American expat and social media wiz who moves to Paris for an amazing job opportunity working for a high-end luxury and lifestyle marketing firm. During her early days in France, she catches feelings for her downstairs neighbor and chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), but unfortunately, he's already in a long-term relationship with Camille (played by Camille Razat). Upping the complicatedness of this modern love triangle, Emily and Camille are actually friends with each other and have their own unique relationship going on, something that is nice and refreshing to see since so many rom-coms usually pit women against each other as romantic rivals fighting over the attention of a man. Naturally, being such good friends with Camille while also having a thing for Gabriel eats away at Emily, and she can't help but feel guilty every time she and Gabriel have a fling.
"Relationships are complicated right?" Lily said when asked about the dynamic between Emily and Camille. "There are so many times that we've seen women pitted against each other and having to be negative and there having to be this sense of competition whereas this feels very much like they're trying to figure out the situation as it's happening."
She continued:
"I think Emily really values her relationship and friendship with Camille and that's why she's so torn with everything that's going on. And I think she has these moments where she comes to an understanding of like, 'Okay, I want a friendship and I don't want to have to be pitted against someone that I really love. And that someone that has embraced me as a friend.' She wants connections in this foreign city and Camille is that connection as well for her. And she's a very whimsical, laid back kind of person who is very different than Emily, but at the same time, they get along because they draw different sides out in one another. So I think it was really refreshing to not have that kind of like girl-frenemy vibe because it is something we've seen so much."
But are Emily and Camille just friends? Watching the series through a queer lens, one can't help but sense something more blossoming between the two (they also share an on-the-lips kiss in one episode!), and if the show (which left on a cliffhanger) gets picked up for a second season, Lily told PRIDE she would be totally down to see what happens next between the two.
"I was like, Darren, is this, like, going somewhere?" Lily said when asked about the reaction she had to Emily and Camille's kiss and the future of their relationship. "He's like, 'I don't know. We'll just see.' And I'm like, 'Okay!'"
She continued:
"Was that a mistake or was it not? And he's like, 'I think you need to leave it ambiguous because it's just better that way.' Emily is having all these experiences and she can't put a definition to everything that happens. That's not real life. You don't always know what's happening. And I think that was part of the beauty of Emily's experiences. She's thrown into these situations where she's like, 'Oh, I don't know what that was, but I'm just gonna roll with it because maybe it's going to lead me somewhere else,' you know?"
Emily in Paris is now streaming on Netflix.
