Social networks began to panic a few days ago, with the announcement of the filming of a new episode, adapted from a novel by Jean-Luc Bannalec. Indeed, the famous Kommissar Dupin, played by Pasquale Aleardi, will be in Concarneau (Finistère) from September 11 to October 9, 2023. Each shoot requires around a hundred extras, and the casting is already almost finished. In a few days, the city will turn into a movie set, for the greatest joy of the German tourists who will crowd around the German actors, machine-gunning them and begging for autographs. The series first aired in France in 2018.
Jean-Luc Bannalec released Dupin’s first investigation in 2012: “A summer in Pont-Aven”. From then on, the success was dazzling and since then, he publishes each year a new opus of the adventures of his hero: Commissioner Dupin. The author, certainly German but who says he is Breton by adoption, is truly pionate about Brittany, its landscapes, its culture and its gastronomy. “It’s usually the best sale of the year in the bookstore. His novels have been translated notably into French and German. This is what we sell at home. What is funny is that people generally buy them in both languages, whether they are French or German,” explained Léna Quéau and Rodrigo Ferradas, owners of the Concarneau press house, Le Livre et la Plume.
Some Concarnois find themselves in the books
But why such enthusiasm? “There is a plot that captivates the reader with descriptions of landscapes and restaurant addresses. By reading them, we know where to eat and what sites to visit. It’s more pleasant than a tourist guide to discover the region. And then the locals like to find known places. Moreover, the author regularly winks at certain Concarnois, who are found in his novels, in particular shopkeepers.
The “Dupin” effect also had another impact on the Concarnois restaurant L’Amiral, and not the least since, since the release of one of the first novels, which take place in Concarneau, the chef has been offering the famous “Commissaire Dupin’s rib steak”. “The reader discovered that the purser liked to taste good meat at the Admiral, accompanied by a gl of red wine. Since then, from Easter to September, this meat has been in huge demand by tourists. It’s one of the star dishes on the menu,” explained Arnaud Lebossé, owner and chef of L’Amiral. He made friends with the author who comes to lunch or dinner regularly in his establishment. They even co-wrote a cookbook, “La cuisine bretonne du commissaire Dupin”, which is selling like hot cakes.