The Best Emily in Paris Love Story Doesn’t Involve Lily Collins’ Character

Emily in Paris follows the romantic escapades of Emily, but Sylvie’s love story with Laurent steals the show.

Sylvie’s marriage to Laurent is unconventional, enduring, and characterized by mutual respect and support.
Fans hope Sylvie and Laurent’s love will last, showcasing their professional synergy and deep connection.

Emily in Paris centers around the title character, played by Lily Collins, a young woman from New York who moves to Paris on assignment for her job in marketing. Falling in love with the city and the energy, she decides to stay. But she falls in love with much more as well. She has a torrid affair with a handsome (but taken) man named Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), then falls for her fellow French language class student Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) as well. Despite the romance (or lust?) that surrounds Emily at every turn, her relationships are overshadowed by a far sweeter love story from another character.

Emily’s new boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) is mysterious, successful, independent, and talented. Her relationship status is complicated, but her true love eventually shines through. It’s revealed that she’s actually married, and the relationship might not exactly be entirely over.

Emily in Paris

2.5/5

Release Date October 2, 2020

Main Genre Comedy

Cast Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lily Collins, Ashley Park

Rating TV-MA

Seasons 4

Read Our Season 4 Review

All About Sylvies Love Life in Emily in Paris

When Emily first meets Sylvie, she appears to be single and uninterested in being in a relationship. Emily later learns that Sylvie has been having an affair for some time with one of her clients, Antoine (William Abadie), who happens to be married. She is oddly friends with Antoine’s wife, Catherine (Charley Fouquet), who, it’s later learned, has known about the affair for some time or at least expected it.

Sylvie eventually ends up in a relationship with Erik DeGroot (Søren Bregendal), a young and handsome photographer on assignment with the company. They get serious for a time, with Erik even asking to meet her friends. While Sylvie is initially reluctant, feeling insecure about their age difference, she decides to make their relationship public and be confident in it as well.

However, when Erik learns that Sylvie is legally married to Laurent (Arnaud Binard), things get complicated. She hasn’t been together with Laurent for years, though it’s clear there’s no animosity between the two. Their relationship is an unconventional one. He’s a nightclub owner who moved to Saint-Tropez and apparently has many lovers. However, the two clearly still have a deeper love for one another.

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Their professional careers take precedence, but they are not afraid to call upon one another as needed. When Sylvie is ready to start her own agency and is having trouble with paperwork, for example, she doesn’t hesitate to call Laurent for help because of their marital status and because she knows he’ll offer his support. Laurent appears again in the third season, visiting and staying with Sylvie, though she reassures Erik that nothing is going on between the two. The marriage, she claims, is just on paper and nothing more. But when Erik presses Sylvie at the McLaren event where Laurent has shown up, she can’t give him a straight answer as to why they are still married if she doesn’t love him. So, Erik breaks up with her.

It’s this evening that Sylvie and Laurent visit the romantic lavender fields together on the property. He tells her he will grant her a divorce if that’s truly what she wants, and says he will always be there for her regardless. The two share a passionate kiss, and when awkwardly attacked by bees, they strip down, hop into the pool, and spend the night together. The romance has been rekindled.

What Makes Theirs a True Love Story in Emily in Paris

It appears that, against all odds, Sylvie and Laurent can’t separate from one another. Even if they were apart for many years, doing their own thing and even dating other people, there’s always a mutual love and respect between them. It’s the latter that has fans giddy. Sylvie seems to want to go out of her way to protect Laurent. She seeks the help of her mother, for example, to provide a venue to allow Laurent’s nightclub opening party to proceed as planned when her actions lead to the deal with JVMA breaking down.

Laurent could have understandably been angry with Sylvie for ruining his business plans, especially since she didn’t tell him before she did it. Instead, he applauded her for speaking out about the sexual harassment she experienced from her former boss, head of JVMA Louis de Leon (Pierre Deny) when she was younger and just starting out. Laurent also questioned why she had never revealed this detail to him in the 20 years they had been together (or apart). But he did so in a way that showed more concern than disappointment. Laurent supported her every step of the way despite how her coming forward with the story negatively impacted him and his business plans. That’s true love.

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When Sylvie’s mother sees how happy Sylvie is back with Laurent, she gives the pair her blessing. It’s clear he has a strained yet pleasant relationship with his mother-in-law, who, it is revealed, loaned him the money to open his first nightclub in the first place. She might have seen Laurent as a non-committal drifter who swept her daughter off her feet but wasn’t in it for the long haul. Now that he’s a huge success and has returned with a renewed love for his wife, Sylvie’s mom seems to finally warm to him in a way she might never have before.

The pair have been through a lot together, and it seems that the only thing holding them back from being together was professional goals and a desire to explore other relationships. With Laurent now planning to open a nightclub in Paris and thus likely moving back, perhaps even having sowed his oats in Saint-Tropez as she has done in Paris, his love story with Sylvie has become a focal point of the show and the one fans most want to see last.

Sure, Emily is busy trying to figure out which of the two men who are madly in love with her she should choose, and Mindy (Ashley Park) is torn between the wealthy and handsome Nicolas (Paul Forman), a reminder of her old life, and the sweet and artsy Benoit (Kevin Dias), Sylvie knows exactly what and who she wants. She doesn’t have time for the juvenile games. Her mindless affairs with people like Antoine appear to have been just a placeholder: she always knew deep down who had her heart. Likewise, Laurent likely did not wish to get an official divorce for more than just business reasons: he always loved Sylvie and knew they would make their way back to one another.

What Fans Hope for Sylvie and Laurent

Fans hope that Sylvie and Laurent will last and that he will continue to go to bat for her and she for him. Fans also hope to see more of Sylvie’s firecracker mom, a fierce force in the nightclub business back in the day who seems to still have that same edge to her despite being retired and out of the front lines of the business.

Sylvie and Laurent could be professional forces to reckon with since they complement one another so well: Sylvie is more rigid and by-the-book, while Laurent is low-key and laid-back. But Sylvie also appears to be a different person when he is around as if she’s reverting to the more carefree younger version of herself that she was back in Saint-Tropez. If it’s at all possible, she seems more confident, too, but also more approachable, happy, and at ease. Laurent, meanwhile, may have loved every minute of being in Saint-Tropez. But his heart was clearly somewhere else, and that was with his wife, Sylvie.

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On Reddit, Savannah2703 says “they are both gorgeous and he really seems to get her and love her.” RotoruaFun adds that they have “oodles of chemistry” and a “deep love for each other.” HelpfulAnt2132 declares that Sylvie and Laurent are “absolutely the story I’m most invested in. What a mesmerizing couple.”

Regardless of who Emily chooses in the long run, even if it’s the handsome new Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) she meets in the back half of Season 4, fans would be happy any way it goes. Who they are really rooting for are Sylvie and Laurent to make it for the long-haul. Can they stay monogamous to one another if that’s what they both want? If so, they can tear up any divorce papers they may have ever drawn up. Clearly, they don’t need them. Stream Emily in Paris on Netflix.