Gabriel Dumont

Gabriel Dumont is a major character in the French thriller series Lupin. He is portrayed by Vincent Garanger in the present timeline, and by Johann Dionnet as a younger man in the 1990s.

Dumont was the detective in charge of overseeing the Babakar Diop case. In the present day, he is the commissioner of the Parisian police force, but often finds himself subservient to Hubert Pellegrini.

1995


When Hubert Pellegrini accuses Babakar Diop of having stolen Marie-Antoinette's necklace from his safe, Dumont is summoned to take charge of the investigation. Dumont agrees to bring Babakar to the police station, but discovers that the accusation against him rests upon flimsy evidence, and that Hubert had increased the insurance policy on the necklace prior to its theft. Hubert realizes that Dumont is ready to build a case of insurance fraud against him, and tells the detective that he would be wise not to cross him, as the entire Parisian police department is in his pocket. Dumont initially remains firm, informing Hubert that he intends to see the investigation through to its conclusion, but capitulates after Hubert threatens the safety of his wife and promises him a promotion if he follows his instructions. At Hubert's behest, Dumont urges Anne to convince Babakar to sign a confession to the theft, misinforming her that this will reduce his sentence.

After Babakar's death in prison, Dumont collects Assane from his and Babakar's apartment. Assane initially claims to be sixteen and living with his mother; Dumont is well aware that he is lying on both counts and aggressively yells at him to pack his belongings. Assane attempts to escape out the window, but Dumont catches him.

Part 1
Dumont is still happily married to his wife Hélène, with whom he now has two children. He has also been promoted to commissioner of the Paris police department. After escaping from prison, Assane places cameras all around Dumont's house. This allows him to be informed of all of Dumont's plans.

One day, while Dumont is in a meeting at the town hall in Paris' 3rd arrondissement, he is interrupted by Assane, who is disguised as an IT specialist named Max. Assane loudly claims that there is an issue surrounding porn found on Dumont's work computer. Highly confused and embarrassed, Dumont allows Assane to drag him to an isolated corridor, where Assane knocks him unconscious and brings him to a dark room in the depths of the building.



When Dumont wakes up, he is horrified to find that he has been kidnapped and tied to a chair. Assane, sitting in a nearby room, begins interrogating him, using a vocal alteration device to hide his identity. He questions Dumont about his actions in 1995, accusing him of having framed Babakar; Dumont protests that he did not frame anybody, and asks if his kidnapping is connected to the Louvre break-in. Assane claims that Dumont has taken bribes from notorious criminals. After he makes an intimidating phone call to Hélène, Dumont frantically admits that he accepted the bribes in order to provide for his family.

Assane reveals that he has installed cameras around Dumont's house, demonstrating that he has the power to create deepfakes of Dumont claiming to be a pedophile or declaring loyalty to ISIS. Horrified, Dumont again demands to know what Assane wants. Now enraged, Assane yells that he wants to find out what happened to his father, giving away his identity to Dumont, who begins to feel sorry for his kidnapper. However, he continues to maintain that his actions with regards to Babakar's arrest were legitimate and honest, and tells Assane that if he releases him, he will not attempt to have him arrested. Shortly after Assane leaves, Romain Laugier, Sofia Belkacem and Youssef Guédira find Dumont and untie him.

Dumont returns home and furiously destroys all of Assane's cameras, and afterwards calls Hubert Pellegrini to tell him that a new party has become involved in Babakar's case. When Hélène returns, she and her husband greet one another emotionally. However, Hélène is shocked when Dumont begins destroying their virtual assistant "Circé", which Assane has also hacked into. Later, while Dumont is eating breakfast in a café, he is accosted by Assane, who asks him for information about Hubert. Dumont advises him to contact a journalist named Fabienne Bériot, but entreats Assane to leave him and his family alone.



Back at work in the police department, Dumont listens to Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira present their theory that his kidnapper and the Louvre thief are the same person. He mocks Guédira for his notion that the crimes are connected to the Arsène Lupin stories, but allows the three to continue gathering evidence. However, when presented with five facial reconstructions of the man responsible for the Louvre heist, one of which looks exactly like Assane, Dumont claims not to recognize any of them. He tells Laugier and Belkacem to stop attempting to connect the cases. As an extra punishment for his Lupin theory, Dumont kicks Guédira off the case entirely, instead giving him paperwork to handle.

Later, Dumont berates Laugier and Belkacem for wanting to interrogate Léonard Koné after he is released by the Le Havre police.

Part 2
Dumont is with Hubert shortly after the latter receives a phone call from Léonard telling him that Guédira has taken Raoul from him and is bringing him back to Paris. Hubert tells Dumont that they can use Raoul as bait to lure Assane to the Hyatt, where Juliette will be giving a speech in honor of her new foundation. Dumont is initially reluctant, arguing that this would be acting outside of any established procedure, but ultimately agrees to go along with Hubert’s plan.



When Guédira, following Dumont’s orders transmitted via Pascal Oblet, delivers Raoul to the Hyatt, Dumont is there to greet them. Guédira, however, is suspicious. Dumont tells him that the “Sernine” case has become a very high priority, and that he needs to take it under personal control. He also mentions that he has reason to believe that Raoul is in danger. Guédira remains confused and apprehensive, but a now-angry Dumont tells Guédira that he shouldn’t need to convince him to obey a direct order.

Dumont is present during Hubert’s interview with Raoul. Afterwards, he sits with Raoul and offers him pizza, but Raoul refuses it. As night falls, Dumont gets a call from “Hubert” (in fact, Assane using technology to make his voice sound like Hubert’s), telling him that Assane has infiltrated the building and that they have lost control of the situation. “Hubert” instructs Dumont to take Raoul out of the hotel, where a car will be waiting to take him away. Although somewhat puzzled by the order, Dumont obliges, grinning nervously as Raoul enters a large black van with shaded windows, which is subsequently driven away.

Dumont is shocked when he receives another call from “Hubert,” despite the fact that Hubert is standing in front of him and is not using his phone. Realizing what has happened, Dumont is horrified, but when Hubert finds out, he is unconcerned, telling Dumont that he has a backup plan in a deal he had previously made with Raoul's mother.



Later, Dumont directs a team of police officers, including Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira, to Assane’s house after Pascal gives them the address. They find Léonard’s dead body on the ground, while Assane is nowhere to be seen. Dumont calls Laugier into a separate room and tells him that he wants to restrict access to the evidence to them alone. When Hubert texts him information on Benjamin Ferel, Dumont sends Laugier and Belkacem to his now-abandoned antiquary to collect evidence.

On the night before the Pellegrinis' concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Dumont visits Hubert, who is sitting with Philippe Courbet and Pascal, and asks if they can speak privately. Hubert tells Dumont that he can say whatever he needs to say in front of everyone. Dumont voices his apprehensions about their activities, noting that several of his officers are getting close to the truth. Hubert, however, tells Dumont to relax, asserting that they will both experience a windfall after the concert.



The next day, Dumont attends the preparations for the concert, cautioning the members of the security team to be on their guard lest Assane try to infiltrate the theater. When he sees Philippe and a disguised Benjamin bringing in boxes of what purports to be computer equipment, he is suspicious, pointing out that it is strange that modern technology would be so bulky. Philippe shows him the equipment inside one of the boxes and offers to open another, which, unbeknownst to Dumont, contains Assane. Dumont, however, decides to let Philippe go after being told that many more identical boxes are still waiting to be unloaded.

When the concert begins, Dumont sits restlessly beside his wife, awaiting any messages regarding Assane's presence. He is not aware that Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira are also in the theater, watching his movements closely. As the music reaches a climax, Dumont receives a text telling him that Assane is inside the building. He leaves the concert hall and orders an emergency response team to search for Assane. After Dumont re-enters, he stumbles upon Assane backstage and threatens to shoot him. However, before Dumont can do anything, he is ambushed by Laugier, Belkacem and Guédira, who point their own guns at him and tell him that he is under arrest for corruption and influence peddling. Dumont is horrified and orders the three to go after Assane instead, but his commands are unheeded; instead, he himself is handcuffed and placed inside a squad car. After the concert ends, Dumont is stunned to see Hubert being put into an identical car beside him. Both vehicles are driven off to the police station.

Personality


In his younger years, Dumont was an honest, diligent detective who intended to complete his investigations, no matter the consequences. However, his experience with Hubert Pellegrini and Babakar Diop made him cynical, and led him to center his attentions on his advancement up the ranks of the Parisian police department. In the present day, the now middle-aged Dumont occupies the position of commissioner. It is suggested that Hubert may have helped him acquire this role. He also has artistic aspirations, having hoped to write a novel following his retirement from the police force.

Dumont’s decision-making is characterized by a strongly protective streak that has nonetheless led him to engage in corruption and deceit. This began with his aiding Hubert in framing Babakar, because he believed his wife was under threat, and has continued into the present day with his accepting bribes from criminals, supposedly to pay for the education of his children. When Dumont was caught in the middle of the escalating war between Assane and Hubert, he seemingly attempted to play both sides, communicating regularly with the Pellegrini patriarch while interfering with his own detectives’ work in identifying and tracking down Assane.

Dumont frequently demonstrates a suspicious attitude; for example, he was the only one of Hubert’s inner circle to suspect that Philippe Courbet was anything other than a legitimate stockbroker. Unlike Hubert, who always believes that his plans will be successful, Dumont prefers to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Relationships
Dumont became an accomplice of Hubert Pellegrini in 1995, and appears to have continued his subservience out of a need for security both in his life and his work. This meant that Dumont was ready to do Hubert’s bidding at essentially any point, including helping to get Hubert and his accomplices released from police custody. Dumont seemed to believe that Hubert was nearly infallible in his decision-making.



Although he had aided Hubert willingly, Dumont felt stressed and guilty about this, which manifested in aggressive, unkind behavior when he took Assane to social services. As a result, Assane held a grudge against Dumont, which was augmented further when he found out that the then-detective had lied to Anne Pellegrini in order to get a signed confession from Babakar. Following his kidnapping, Dumont came to fear Assane enough that he did not immediately give his name to Hubert. Dumont did, however, ultimately want Assane in jail, and came close to arresting him during the Pellegrinis’ concert.

Until the autumn of 2020, the other officers at the police department appeared to have regarded Dumont as a competent and effective leader. Of his subordinates, Youssef Guédira was the quickest to suspect Dumont of foul play upon discovering his connections to Hubert and the Diop family, while Romain Laugier was the most willing to go along with his orders. This eventually led Dumont to restrict the evidence uncovered in Assane’s apartment to him and Laugier alone, which failed to deter Guédira from inspecting it and finding incriminating evidence that led even Laugier to turn on his commissioner.

Dumont shared a strong and loving relationship with his wife, Hélène, and their children. Much of his corruption was motivated by the fear that his family was in danger; however, he was horrified when Assane threatened to reveal his illegal activities to Hélène. With his abnormally high salary padded by Hubert, Dumont was able to afford a massive house for them to live in, as well as expensive vacations to the United States and various tropical beaches overseas.

Appearances

 * Part One


 * Chapter 1
 * Chapter 2
 * Chapter 3
 * Chapter 4
 * Chapter 5


 * Part Two


 * Chapter 7
 * Chapter 9
 * Chapter 10

Quotes
"I’m not playing around. I’m trying to get to the truth."

- Dumont in 1995 on his investigation into the necklace theft

"Believe me or don’t, but at the time I liked my job. And I was good at it."

- Dumont to Assane during his interrogation

Trivia

 * Vincent Garanger was originally only set to appear as a guest in the third episode, but the showrunners enjoyed his performance and expanded Dumont's role significantly.