“It was worse than cliché, it felt like it was Americans mocking French people,” one young French woman said. “I don’t understand their vision of Paris.”

Cheating, croissants, couture  — while “Emily in Paris” has transfixed young female American viewers, it is reviled by many of the real-life residents of the city it milks for laughs.

In Netflix’s most popular comedy series of 2020, viewers were transported away from the grim reality of the coronavirus pandemic to a glossy, stylish and frankly unrealistic version of the City of Light. The second season of the hit series by Darren Star, who was behind “Sex in the City,” also plays on perceived tensions between American and French lifestyles, and swiftly became a top 10 on the streaming service after it dropped in December.

The fantastical depiction of Paris and those who live, work and love there is in line with “Sex In the City” celebrating New York, presenting the French capital as a dreamscape complete with characters wearing over-the-top outfits, handsome Gallic men and a deluxe sleeper train to Saint-Tropez.

It is this unrealistic portrayal of their city and the stereotypical, and sometimes unflattering, depiction of the French that so irks some young Parisian women and those living in surrounding suburbs, many of whom have railed against the show. The series follows Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), a 20-something marketing executive from Chicago as she navigates life in the French capital.

“It was worse than cliché, it felt like it was Americans mocking French people,” said Julie Seguin, 27, who didn’t finish the first season and said she had no plans to watch the second. “I don’t understand their vision of Paris.”

While the new season reached the Netflix Top 10 even in France — Seguin is not alone.