We all need a plan. (Clockwise from top-right: Charlotte, Matt, Elsa, Jules, Emilie and Antoine.)
Plan Coeur, known internationally as The Hook-Up Plan, is a French romantic comedy web television series produced for Netflix.
Elsa, on the verge of turning thirty and stuck in an uninspiring job, finds herself still hung up on her ex-boyfriend two years after their breakup. Her friends, hoping to help her break out of her rut and find some confidence, decide to hire a male escort to take her on a few dates. It stars César Award winner Zita Hanrot as Elsa, with an Ensemble Cast supporting.
Previews: the official trailer
, and a much-appreciated special teaser that riffs on that one scene from Love Actually
Beware of unmarked spoilers.
This series provides examples of:
- Alone Among the Couples: Elsa, at first.
- Becoming the Mask: Jules gets paid for a handful of dates with Elsa, but rapidly finds himself falling in love with her. Thus, he resumes their dating sans payment. (Although the weight of their initial lies catches up to Jules and Elsa’s friends, fast.)
- Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Antoine and Emilie are the bickering couple; although not “officially” together, Matt and Charlotte are the peaceful couple.
- The Confidant: What Manon is to Antoine, as Emilie is often emotionally distant.
- Control Freak: Emilie. Her boyfriend Antoine thinks so, and her best friend Elsa calls her by the trope name explicitly. (Not to her face, but the circumstances of Emilie... er, eavesdropping, are self-demonstrating if anything.)
- Cool Big Sis: Elsa’s sister is squarely one, although Elsa laments that she isn’t spending enough time with her.
- Domestic Abuser: Max. He cheats on Elsa with Gaïa, yet treats Gaïa like crap even though he’s engaged to the latter when the show kicks off. It seems that treating whoever’s his girlfriend like crap, then letting his eyes stray to continue the cycle, is his M.O.
- Foreshadowing:
- One of the first scenes of the show has Elsa’s friends Charlotte, Emilie, Matt, and Antoine discussing a piece of information they were withholding from Elsa: that her ex-boyfriend was getting married to Gaïa. The same thing happens, with everyone in her circle of friends pretty much knowing Jules had been paid to go on dates with Elsa, yet none of them telling her (until Antoine learns, that is). As with the wedding, it understandably angers Elsa.
- Elsa also remarks upon how common Jules’ name is, wondering aloud if he’s an actor using a Stage Name. He is, in a way. His actual name is Julio Seldenha.
- Freudian Excuse: Emilie is sometimes cold to Antoine because he wants commitment and she was ditched by her groom on their wedding day back when she was twenty years old. To be fair to Antoine, he doesn’t know about that.
- Friends with Benefits: Matt and Charlotte, although they act like boyfriend and girlfriend anyway. They’re also not shy about joking and flirting with the idea of being together. Notably, in one episode, they are very clearly trying to make each other jealous. It works and results in a teary-eyed reconciliation, yet with nary an official Relationship Upgrade in sight.
- Genre Throwback: To classic rom-coms, of course. A slightly memetic teaser has Zita Hanrot recreating Love Actually’s Signature Scene, and in the show itself, Charlotte likens the circumstances to Pretty Woman with the leads’ genders swapped.
- Gone Horribly Right: Charlotte's plan was to have Jules hook up with Elsa so she could get over her ex, but she probably wasn't expecting her to actually fall in love with the guy... or him to reciprocate.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Jules DuPont, real name Julio Saldenha.
- Hospital Hottie: The lovely Manon. Although he does not act on his attraction to her, Antoine thinks she’s the hottest nurse in a hospital staffed by some of these.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode title follows the format of “The [Insert Adjective/Noun/Etc.] Plan.”
- It's All About Me: Elsa's mother appears to be one. It causes tension among the family, such as when her sister brings out a present for Elsa (whose birthday had just taken place) and a smaller gift for the mother. Although her sister plainly says that the bigger present is for Elsa, their mother snatches it and opens the gift without permission. Cue shots of discomfort from both sisters, and Elsa leaving the dinner table.
- Ladykiller in Love: Jules, a male escort who is stated to have slept with over 500 women on the job, ends up falling in love with Elsa.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Jules initially seems to be a gender inversion of the trope. Of course, he was paid to act like one to Elsa, and as a person is really more complicated than that.
- Quirky Curls: Charlotte has long, curly hair. She’s described as “out of touch” by her best friend.
- Secret Relationship: Charlotte and Matt, although it’s no secret to the audience.
