Hidden behind palace walls, Chancellor Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet) rules the unnamed European country at the center of The Regime with an iron fist. Winslet grabs this role – equal parts politician and television personality – with both hands, walking a fine line between airheaded caricature, empowered feminine role model and insulated head of state. For fans of Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Thick of It, The Death of Stalin), The Regime will feel like familiar ground, since it deals with governmental incompetence, pulling no punches with those in power. Emmy-winning creator Will Tracy – no stranger to satirical jabs at the rich and powerful thanks to his time on the staffs of Succession, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The Onion – steals stylishly from the Iannucci archives here, providing Winslet with a truly terrifying character in Chancellor Vernham.
A leader whose arsenal of exploitation ranges from simple promises of power to something more inappropriate implied through provocative Christmas specials, Vernham’s preening self-importance is already out of control when we first encounter her, mid-palace-refurbishment. Workers are everywhere, housekeeper Agnes (Andrea Riseborough) is trying to anticipate every whim, and disgraced military official Corporal Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) waits in handcuffs. It says a lot about The Regime’s view on political leverage that Zubak gets promoted and not punished; Vernham is initially attracted to his shameless brutality before learning to love his other intellectual assets.
Beneath the intimidating physique and anger management issues is a man who knows how to manipulate others, sidelining political advisers with veiled threats and slowly stepping into the shoes of Vernham’s dead father to push his own agenda. By tapping into her emotional insecurities and becoming more of a man than those around him, Zubak makes himself indispensable as events escalate. These alpha male traits make attraction inevitable as Vernham gets drawn deeper into his web, allowing Winslet and Schoenaerts to exploit that on-screen chemistry creating moments of pure electricity between them.
This push-and-pull dynamic proves to be a driving force for The Regime as Zubak slowly works himself further into her favor. First it’s the introduction of rigorous training sessions bringing them closer together, that strike a perfect balance between slapstick comedy, sexually charged flirtation, and some kind of twisted foreplay. Next he influences Vernham's diet pushing her towards more rustic working class food, being sure to plant the seeds that eventually go on to influence her policy on the distribution of wealth. Throughout The Regime, Tracy cleverly explores their changing relationship in opposition to a country in decline. Blending fact with fiction and blurring the lines between both on television and elsewhere, the creator illustrates Zubak’s increasing influence as Vernham upsets international allies, ignores export opportunities, and allows the economy to implode. Through a combination of cinematic choices all designed to reflect Vernham’s emotional state and shifting political allegiances, The Regime soon feels overwhelming as numerous ideas all jockey for attention and passions between Zubak and Elena peak.
The influence of Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson can be felt throughout The Regime: Dr. Strangelove and The Grand Budapest Hotel help shape certain design choices and set the tone for absurdities. Insulated by wealth and privilege, Vernham lives in a reality shaped by her image and influence, which slowly comes unstuck when she’s forced to confront the poverty of working-class people. These intentionally uncomfortable moments skewer the sanitized public personas of politicians who are more R-rated in private. It may seem unoriginal for The Regime to show both sides of the curtain and the cover-up when things go wrong, but this is where the show makes its strongest satirical point: For these people, dying in power is preferable to giving up their privilege.
There's no end to the rivals looking to cause trouble for Vernham as Rome burns, including scheming government ministers Mr. Laskin (Danny Webb) and Mr. Singer (Henry Goodman). But their secret meetings, backroom power plays, and petty backbiting feels boring in comparison to watching Winslet in action. It is that inevitable move towards convention – as those in power are overthrown and certain characters die – that sees The Regime lose a little originality. Hugh Grant’s enigmatic opposition leader and Martha Plimpton’s forthright U.S Senator could have staved this off, if both had been given more screen time rather than being sidelined into limited cameo roles. Both characters feeling like afterthoughts strategically placed to provide Vernham with adversaries – or at the very least give audiences a break from The Regime’s dominant central performance.
What keeps The Regime from achieving greatness is just how much it wants to convince audiences of its quality. This is clearly a good satirical drama with solid performances from Winslet and Schoenaerts, but there is also a degree of self-satisfaction coming through, as Elena often feels overly superficial. There are obvious parallels between real world leaders in a performance cranked up to 11, but the clash of different cinematic styles used to convey that can sometimes feel dazzling and draw attention to itself. This habit of mixing and matching television specials, social media snippets, and at certain points, handheld documentary footage fails to help, since audiences may get distracted by the presence of all these creative elements vying for attention.
But perhaps that self-indulgence can be forgiven, because making a mockery of Eastern European autocrats through the eye of celebrity culture against the backdrop of civil war takes guts. The Regime can be riveting, and it does have some interesting things to say, but it also gets weighed down by its own ambition. There is no doubting the originality of its execution, or the noble intentions of Tracy and the ensemble cast, but The Regime still feels more like a case of style over substance.
