Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Johnny Harris, Leah Harvey, John Heffernan, Lyès Salem, Daniel Cerqueira, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Dee Ahluwalia, Fehinti Balogun, Anastasia Hille, Anna Madeley, Lily Newmark, Alexa Goodall, Jason Forbes, Billie Gadsdon, Penny Downie, Leah Balmforth, Gabriel Robinson, Damian Rozanek, Matilda Hunt, Rob Jarvis, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Paul Ready, Beau Gadsdon.
The cruelty of a regime can be found in its mistrust of its people, finding suspicion in every individual’s action, their words, and their presence. The state, in its paranoia, will willingly be spiteful to even those that are considered to be friendly to them, and in the extremes of the political divide, the malice is one of vindictiveness, of harsh realities to which those of a certain display of manners would find difficulty in survival; not just a political enemy, but one that finds themselves in the firing line purely because they do not understand the severity of their air and grace under pressure.
Revolution often puts those with grudges in a position of authority to which they are unsuited, and in a world of grand hospitality the inversion of an order will generally be a detriment, the opportunist only being promoted because they offer the state a chance to have a willing collaborator in charge of others; and in this the transposition is clear; one to whom manners comes naturally will thrive even when cast down, where as the one who demands respect will burst like a fish out of its depth, only its rotten soul clinging on in hope that will rise higher.
In a perfect example of the fall out of revolution, A Gentleman in Moscow brings to the screen the sheer divine of antithesis. Set against the drama of Russia’s early days after the 1917 Revolution’s success, the interwar years, its people’s heroics during the onslaught by Nazi Germany, and the claustrophobia and complexity of the aftermath of Stalin’s death, what emerges is a truth of humanity, that one person can truly make a difference to those around them by being kind.
It is a difficult conjecture in discussion to how we view the brilliance of Ewan McGregor’s career, which era of life has given the audience more pleasure, which part has been a defining act and achievement; but it must be noted as the sophisticated and humanely passionate Alexander Rostov, the Scottish actor is placed in such a position of admiration that it will be a stretch to see beyond this role as one expects of an older, established actor.
The series relies not only on his relationship with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the role of film star Anna Urbanova, but that of the extremes of the aftermath of revolution, his begrudging friendship and respect with Johnny Harris’ Osip Glebnikov, and the contempt he holds for social opportunist and eventual manager of The Metropole, Bishop, played with extreme polish by John Heffernan; for in this triangle the sense of what truly happened between certain classes is exposed, myopically in depth, the morality of situations and the unlikely causes that bind and even separate, is produced with great love for the piece at hand by writer, director, and cast alike.
A Gentleman in Moscow is a class act of television; undaunted by its backdrop in history, one that celebrates hope with illumination and truth.
Ian D. Hall