Paramount+ presents its next adaptation, A Gentleman in Moscow, after pushing the second season for the Halo series. This one is a book adaptation of the same name written by Amor Towles and is expected to be a mini-series covering key moments of the historical fiction novel.
My initial reaction to the first two episodes of A Gentleman in Moscow was that the show surprised me. It got to the point straight away and wasted no time building out this world and the bonds within it. Also, Ewan McGregor can slay that mustache! It is very similar to Kenneth Branaugh playing Hercule Poirot in the Agatha Christie film adaptations.
The main plot follows Russian aristocrat Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov (McGregor), who recently returned to Russia following his journey to Paris. He spent decades banished to an attic hotel room following the October Revolution after being sentenced to house arrest by a Bolshevik tribunal. They told the Count that the moment he left Hotel Metropol, he would be shot on sight.
This was no regular hotel either. It was once exclusively frequented and lived in by Russian upper-class and royalty members. However, the Bolsheviks have decided otherwise. Mary Elizabeth Winstead revealed in a Q&A session after the screening of these first two episodes that 95% of the show was filmed in a real hotel. This included the rooms that connected to one another. Because of not being able to actually film in Moscow due to the current war and unfortunate events, the choice was made to use Greater Manchester, England.
Even though the Count is confined to the limits of the hotel, he manages to interact with the rest of Russia through visitors and old friends. Through his interactions with the hotel staff, his old privilege bled through the story. But it is a paradox. Generally, the ninety-nine percent of people on Earth have the urge to hate the One Percent and royalty for their posh debaucheries.
“The chemistry between McGregor and Winstead in A Gentleman in Moscow was off the Richter scale!”
Yet, the Count breaks the black-and-white mould of high-class aristocracy by being a down-to-earth person. He also has a lot of charm that does not immediately make people want to rip his throat out when he is humbled by the Red Army soldiers confining his living quarters and the rest of his life.
The chemistry between McGregor and Winstead in A Gentleman in Moscow was off the Richter scale! But it made sense since they are married in real life. While their relationship in the show is very different, I think anyone could tell their passion transcended the performance on-screen. It was nothing as steamy as Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas in Deep Water, following their fling in real life. And yet, that was not the only heavy chemistry I caught.
McGregor’s endearing relationship with kids never fails, for example, in his time in the Star Wars films and roles such as Christopher Robin in Christopher Robin. I felt like his touching relationship with the little girl resident of the hotel, Nina, was a little creepy at first. Quickly, it grows into a sense of camaraderie for navigating new parts of the hotel’s secret rooms and passageways they discover together. Other relationships of friendship and brotherhood emerged as well, offering McGregor a chance to trapeze through those connections, too.
A Gentleman in Moscow is directed by Sam Miller, with Sarah O’Gorman directing some of the episodes. The first two episodes included a lot of close-ups of McGregor, mostly when he is being oppressed or on his own, venturing Hotel Metropol. The focal lens of the camera was super tight and confined, elevating the experience of being under house arrest through the screen.
The situation almost seemed similar to living through COVID-19 lockdowns, minus the part where the upper class was being targeted for execution. Even though it was only a two-episode preview, I got a general sense of unease with the Count’s situation. On the same note of the camera angle and shot choices, I really enjoyed the long takes of following characters from one area to another.
“A Gentleman in Moscow used many different camera techniques that elevated the storytelling for me…”
At first, it was a bit jarring that they used some shaky camera work to do follow shots. It was almost like the Count’s life was being documented through the use of a modern handheld camera, and this was the found footage. It’s not as shaky as in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield, though. I’m not sure if it was the goal, but it adds to the feeling of being over-surveillance, too.
A Gentleman in Moscow used many different camera techniques that elevated the storytelling for me—one more comes to mind. The Count’s life is told in two timelines: his current time in Hotel Metropol and his time with his family and friends of high-luxury and leisure. While his present time was shown in a normal widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the past memories of the Count was shot in fullscreen 4:3 aspect ratio. I thought this was a cheeky way to separate timelines without the help of text appearing on-screen.
As a historical drama and thriller, A Gentleman in Moscow appears to be shaping into a whimsical, intriguing ride. With eight episodes to cover the book’s material, I believe it will do the novel justice. For about eight hours of content to figure out the full picture of the Count’s life, I feel like there will be many twists and turns until the very end. Whether he lives or dies by the end of the series, I guess we will all have to wait and see.
