‘The Regime’: An Example of Political Satire that Never Was
The latest addition to HBO Max’s catalogue, the miniseries titled The Regime (earlier called The Palace), had potential written all over it and had a good production and acting team behind it. With Kate Winslet at the helm and a script written by Will Tracy of Succession and The Menu, this political spoof based on ridiculousness on the Central European dictator’s paranoia and megalomania looked good on papers.
But sadly, when one switches to The Palace, it does not go the distance as much as it would have wanted to. Yes, there are times during the viewing process of ‘The regime’ when one might chuckle, but it still feels underneath the level of depth that the setup and the references point out.
Sparseness in Characters and World Building
One of the noticeable flaws of The Regime centers on the range or the parameters it establishes as well as the shallow etching of characters. The series hampers and narrows down its focus to virtually only the palace and ignores everything else about the outside. Apart from a couple of scattered hints about cobalt mines as well as United States’ interests, the fake country and its details are rather ignored.
Due to this absence of detail, its broader perspective becomes rather simplistic. The idea—‘autocracies and dictatorships are bad’—is quite vapid and ‘does not offer anything more than beggarly look at the issue’.
Parasu also pointed out that the very characters have been underplayed.
The reason there was no further development in the plot was rather weak, their main characters almost have no mass to them. For example, the dictator’s cabinet’s members are nothing but jokes. Heck, even the likes of Vernham and Zubak who are supposed to be interesting clients, don’t progress in any way. The only thing that can be included among their “improvement” is perhaps a new pair of jeans and a hat.
Kate Winslet And Schoenaerts Are Fantastic Regardless Of The Material
Nevertheless, the actors were able to put up a pretty convincing show. As a clumsy tyrant craving approval, Kate Winslet is able to give her character an amusing twist while still performing gallantly on stage. With every scene she acts in, the audience knows she won’t disappoint as she leaves a strong impression to her audience.
Matthias Schoenaerts plays her tow the line. His performance is quite captivating due to the fact that he possesses an unusual warmth inside of him. This is especially true even though the film gets only a fraction of the total benefits.
Andrea Riseborough acts as Agnes, the palace butler. She stands out impressively with her composed and gentle yet dominating character. Such a talented actress with such great talent in her role is a miser’s disappointment as she wastes a lot of great opportunities to shine.
A Good Film, But Spoiled In Several Ways
There is something telltale within The Regime and there are obvious signs that this pale series is the one. The latter is coupled with the humour of Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin and comes up with Tracy’s other work that gets the audience scratching their heads.
On the other hand, the series does not deliver that level of humor or depth in the storytelling.
The show touches on important issues-Namely, the geopolitical impact of cobalt mining–but such issues get mentioned in passing rather than integrated into the story. Consequently, the satire comes across as bland. More could have been done in placing the viewer in the context more firmly.
Light Entertainment, and not much else
THe Regime can be enough for those who crave for a mindless experience. It has bits of fun and good performances which are enough to see it once. But for the audience who are looking for dark, witty satire like Succession or The Death of Stalin, this is not the case.
While not without its strengths, The Regime in the end is a wasted opportunity. A show that had something insightful to say, only had to settle in being fun and entertaining.