Set over an increasingly torrid year,The Regime is a satire on power gone awry. Locked inside a palace where Elena’s grip is absolute,the six episodes offer an uncomfortable proximity to paranoia. The humour is awkward and eye-bulging – the more you learn about the situation,the more unhinged it becomes. Creator Will Tracy is a graduate ofSuccession,but the dialogue doesn’t crackle with juicy insults. Elena’s reach tends to suck the comic oxygen out of the room – everyone is too scared to get lippy.
With veteran British filmmaker Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons,The Queen) as the lead director,the show is a farce that wrestles with thorny geopolitical themes. The most notable is the psychosexual bond of patriotism and authority,exemplified by Elena making a rural soldier her aide – he has to monitor the air for spores – after he shoots protestors. With his bullish frame,Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) goes from baffled servant to Rasputin-like advisor,extolling homeopathic treatments and the expulsion of American interests.
The narrative is bulging with interesting ideas,such as the struggle of Elena’s housekeeper,Agnes (Andrea Riseborough),to stay loyal and protect her son from Elena’s voracious affection,but not all of them are fleshed out or resolved. Focusing on Elena and Herbert’s connection offers a wild progression,but it never feels completely plausible. That some old-fashioned daddy issues,albeit made explicit with a jaw-dropping paternal presence,are presented as a key motivation feels like a stopgap that was never updated.
The balance between satire and the realities of regime change never gel. Bloody ructions are just something a delusional Elena rejects as propaganda. Perhaps it’s these loose footings that encourage Winslet to layer on one technical challenge after another to her performance:the accent,the slight lisp,the florid delusions. Winslet is a masterful dramatic actor who overplays her hand comically here. She’s doing too much on a series that – despite a sharp Hugh Grant episode – doesn’t do enough.The Regime is not a coup.
American Fiction ★★★★
Amazon Prime
Nominated for best picture at the upcoming Academy Awards,but going straight to streaming in Australia,the debut feature from filmmaker Cord Jefferson is a salty,bittersweet satire that draws a bead on America’s cultural industries. Verging on the farcical when looking at an askew world,but deeply astute about its protagonist’s personal circumstances,American Fiction is a film of fake identities and bedrock truths.