We are on the path of giving women an outlet to express their sexual desires. Falling more into the realm for middle aged women than those in their early years. But either way, with this outlet, we should begin to question what options we are using. Stories like these are there in the world, and surely plentiful. Sexual desire, obsession, wanting, lust, all are real feelings individuals experience at some point in their lives. Yet we want to see it represented on screen so we do not feel alone.
Recently, women have been given some unlikely outcomes in this wish for representation of desire or sexual fantasy. Book-to-movie or television show adaptations are all too common. Yet Netflix has brought another to the table. In 2022, Julia May Jonas published Vladimir, a timely debut novel that excelled in sales. Four years later, it heads to Netflix as an eight-episode television series starring Rachel Weisz, and Leo Woodall.
It chronicles a middle-aged professor’s (Weisz) obsession with her new and younger colleague (Woodall). Amid a scandal involving her husband (Slattery), her world begins to collapse as she spirals out of control. There is no shortage of complications that arise in this all too troubled marriage of hers. As the episodes continue, you are left wondering just how much more chaotic it could possibly get.
As executive producer and star of the series, it is clear Weisz put more than just talent into the role. Previously, having stated to Netflix Tudum, “It’s like a heightened fairytale.” Then, when you hear those words, you might just believe it to be true. The word fairytale might seem a bit over-dramatic, but profound barely begins to describe the eight episodes of Vladimir. Episode to episode, Vladimir’s unnamed professor gets all the more unhinged. Introducing her to the audience, we are given the climax of the story and bringing you back to the beginning has been done before. But you are pulled into her life even more as you want to know what brought her to this point.
The time in life when everyone gets to when audiences meet their protagonist, she’s feeling lost and unwanted. Once, what she believed to have been a beloved author and professor, now fewer and fewer students register for her classes. With a stalled writing career as well, one would hope her family could provide comfort, but there is nothing there. Her only daughter, Sid (Ellen Robertson), stays at arm’s length, and her husband’s on-campus scandal provides no help for normalcy.
As relatable as our mysterious professor is, the younger generation may feel the need to question her intentions. Those older, however, may feel as though they can connect with her. Weisz brings a creepy aura to the series. You would never have expected a role like this from her. Last seen in the 2023 rebooted Dead Ringers, she brings that grit and sexuality to our protagonist in Vladimir. Making her fall into the desirability and despair of a middle-aged mother and professional.
Once relevant, the power and agency she had held appear to be slowly (or quickly) fading away. Many times do we witness her referring to herself as once sexually desired; she no longer believes she is. Then, since the beginning of their marriage, she and John have always agreed with polygamy. However, where we join them in time, it has become sluggish.
Everything in her life can be relatable to at least one person. It is strange for this to be so, but her actions reflect well in the real world. Unfortunately, even this character and the representation she brings cannot make up for the faulty Netflix streaming tropes the show falls into. Who is to say whether the book-to-show adaptation is stellar if you have not yet read the novel, but at least you have the original creator adapting her script?
It will be ultimately up to you whether or not you binge it all at once: Vladimir fully fits the Netflix pattern in which it is a show you could easily consume all eight episodes in one sitting. Thank goodness for female creatives and Rachel Weisz for wanting to share those hidden female emotions and desires.
★★★
Streaming on Netflix from March 6th / Rachel Weisz, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Ellen Robertson, Miriam Silverman, Kayli Carter, Jessica Henwick, Elisa Moolecherry, Louise Lambert, Matt Walsh / Dir: Shari Springer Berman, Francesca Gregorini, Robert Pulcini, Josephine Bornebusch / Netflix
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