The regime
Crazy as a box of gerbils. Completely crazy, like the Red Arrows on acid. More out of his tiny skull than Ab Fab’s Patsy after three bottles of Bollinger.
Kate Winslet raves as the germophobic chancellor of a crackpot country somewhere in Central Europe, in The Regime (Sky Atlantic).
When he’s not delivering televised demands for eternal love from his nation of sugar beet-growing farmers, he entertains diplomats with karaoke versions of ’70s pop hits.
She is so terrified of being poisoned by mold spores that they whitewash her palace every two weeks and carry her through the halls in a Perspex sedan chair.
His only confidant is his father’s corpse, decomposing in an underground mausoleum.
Kate Winslet raves as the germophobic chancellor of a crackpot country somewhere in Central Europe, in The Regime (Sky Atlantic).
She is so terrified of being poisoned by mold spores that they whitewash her palace every two weeks and carry her through the halls in a Perspex sedan chair.
Written by Succession’s Will Tracy and directed by Sir Stephen Frears, who earned an Oscar nomination for The Queen with Helen Mirren, this is international political satire at maximum volume.
When Chancellor Elena Vernham sits down to dinner alone, surrounded by dehumidifying machines and wearing an oxygen mask, the parallels with Vladimir Putin’s obsession with disease are inescapable.
But Winslet’s performance is so over-the-top, so silly, that there’s little room for anything else.
The palace aides and courtiers are monotonous because they have nothing to do except react to the Chancellor’s crazy whims.
Andrea Riseborough is lost as a foul-mouthed chief of staff. She’s like Peter Capaldi’s vicious doctor in The Thick Of It, without any of the power, venom or banter.
Tracy’s script has nothing to do with Succession. The dialogue never surprises us: it is often like a press release from the Department of Economic Affairs.
Chatting with a trade delegation, Elena’s husband Nicky (Guillaume Gallienne) explains: “We are always happy to partner with our NATO friends who share our love of freedom,” and there is so much of that nonsense that even madness in the background it starts to look boring.
When Chancellor Elena Vernham sits alone at dinner, wearing an oxygen mask, the parallels with Vladimir Putin’s obsession with disease are inescapable.
Hugh Grant brings the show to life, as Keplinger, Elena’s deposed predecessor, now a prisoner in a luxury dungeon.
Matthias Schoenaerts plays a psychotic bodyguard who falls in love with the “Boss” after he is tasked with protecting her.
It occasionally erupts into violence, for example when Elena discovers an intruder sitting at the end of her bed, a scene clearly inspired by the 1982 break-in of Buckingham Palace by a weirdo named Michael Fagan.
All six episodes are available for streaming. You might want to skip ahead to part four, when Hugh Grant brings the show to life, as Elena’s deposed predecessor Keplinger, now a prisoner in a luxury dungeon.
Keplinger is a mass of contradictions: all charm without honesty, able to see through Elena but still obsessed with her. Evidently, Grant is not very happy with his own performance. Last month, he said: “I think it was bullshit.”
Will Tracy, however, has his measure. In perhaps the sharpest line of the entire show, Winslet tells Grant, “I was wondering how you were doing, and then I remembered that as long as there’s a mirror, you’re in business.”
