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Five French in-jokes in Call My Agent! on Netflix that you probably missed

  • Betty Blue actress Beatrice Dalle refusing to play a nude corpse when she has spent a career playing objects of male desire is an example of the show’s in-jokes
  • A hotshot agent and his secretary who have enjoyed a steamy years-long affair finally drop their formal manner of address and become grammatically intimate

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Gabriel (Grégory Montel, left), Andrea (Camille Cottin) and Hicham (Assaad Bouab) in season four of the French comedy series “Call My Agent” on Netflix. Photo: Netflix
Agence France-Presse

The global success of the series Call My Agent! – its latest season now streaming on Netflix – is all the more remarkable for it being chock-a-block with rapid-fire jokes only French people will get.

Here’s a rundown of some you might have missed.

Get thee to a nunnery

In Season 3 (2018) actress Beatrice Dalle refuses to play a nude corpse at the start of her episode, abandoning the morgue for the convent to take time out from an industry she says is dictated by the lascivious male gaze.

Fair enough. But for decades Dalle has excelled in extreme and outrageous roles as an object of desire, from her breakthrough in the racy Betty Blue to sex-crazed cannibal in Trouble Every Day.

In real life, Dalle often hangs out with nuns enjoying convent retreats and speaking openly about her faith and love for Jesus.

Mimie Mathy (front) and fellow cast members in a scene from Call My Agent, which is streaming on Netflix. Mathy plays a nasty piece of work in the series, but uses gestures first seen in another French series in which she plays a benevolent spirit.
Mimie Mathy (front) and fellow cast members in a scene from Call My Agent, which is streaming on Netflix. Mathy plays a nasty piece of work in the series, but uses gestures first seen in another French series in which she plays a benevolent spirit.
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