The titular gentleman of “A Gentleman in Moscow” is Rely Alexander Rostov, a Russian aristocrat performed with sprightly joie de vivre by an enthusiastic Ewan McGregor. An aesthete with impassioned opinions about wine pairings, Rostov was born to stay the lifetime of leisure handed right down to him by his landowning ancestors. (When requested about his job, he replies huffily: “It’s not the place of a gentleman to have occupations.”) The issue is that Rostov is a person unfit for his time. Earlier than he can assume administration of his household’s nation property, the Russian Revolution rudely intervenes. A populist poem from his pupil days spares Rostov the firing squad, relegating him as a substitute to a lifetime of home arrest in Moscow’s fictional Metropol resort.
Primarily based on the bestselling novel of the identical identify by Amor Towles, “A Gentleman in Moscow” follows Rostov by way of the doorways of the Metropol and stays there by way of a long time of Russian historical past, from the formation of the Soviet Union to Stalinist repression to World Struggle II and past. Author and showrunner Ben Vanstone (“All Creatures Nice and Small”) renders Rostov’s journey in eight hourlong episodes, a size directly condensed from Towles’s 500-page tome and distended from the place the story feels most snug onscreen. “A Gentleman in Moscow” might current Rostov and his sort as an endangered species, however the collection is a part of an all-too-common pattern: a restricted collection constructed round a star efficiency that’s partaking, however not sufficient to stretch a movie-sized thought right into a TV-sized narrative.
Rostov’s confinement is much from solitary. Lengthy acquainted with the employees of the Metropol as a well-liked visitor, he quickly joins their ranks as a waiter, gamely aiding a crew of maids, cooks and barkeeps in preserving a way of old-world hospitality. The erstwhile Rely — honorifics are banned beneath Bolshevik rule — strikes up a clandestine romance with actress Anna Urbanova (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who’s married to McGregor in actual life) and a doting, avuncular friendship with Nina (Alexa Gooddall), a younger lady and fellow captive who masters the Metropol like a mixture of Anastasia and Eloise. Rostov’s details of contact along with his jailers are his handler Osip (Johnny Harris), who solicits personal classes in tradition to raised grasp his bourgeois adversaries, and Bishop (John Heffernan), a Metropol worker who senses alternatives for development amid social upheaval.
However none of those characters ever compete with Rostov for the middle of the collection’ consideration. They’re, at greatest, equipment to his maturation from unserious dilettante to an impassioned protector of his adopted household, or an viewers to his anecdotes a couple of bygone period. McGregor gamely sports activities a mustache and animates Rostov with a boyish naiveté. (After “Fargo,” “Halston” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the actor appears to have taken to TV as a showcase for his skills.) His Rostov is compelling, but additionally acquainted — Towles’ novel was printed in 2016, only a couple years after Ralph Fiennes portrayed an identical determine in Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Resort,” which introduced its namesake property to life with way more stylistic brio than administrators Sam Miller and Sarah O’Gorman carry to the Metropol. There’s a ceiling to how a lot McGregor can do with a protagonist who clings to such established contours of classic propriety caught up within the tides of historical past.
There’s additionally the matter of context. “The Grand Budapest Resort” befell in a fictional nation, however it referenced the rising tide of European fascism within the Thirties, a theme with apparent resonance for modern viewers. “A Gentleman in Moscow” offers with Communist repression, which is each a throwback to Chilly Struggle anxieties and an inherently political topic for a stubbornly apolitical present. Rostov’s school good friend Mishka (Fehinti Balogun) hails from a extra proletarian background and finally ends up on the other aspect of the revolution, however their variations stem extra from private strife than ideology. Of their faculty days, Rostov thwarted Mishka’s romance along with his sister, an intervention with tragic outcomes.
“A Gentleman in Moscow” in any other case avoids having Rostov query whether or not his former life-style ever got here at others’ expense or cultivating his views on present occasions past melancholy remorse. This absence is perhaps much less conspicuous have been the present extra overtly summary and allegorical á la “The Regime,” one other collection set largely inside the partitions of a requisitioned resort. However the Metropol, whereas clearly constructed on a soundstage, is sensible sufficient to ask questions in regards to the exterior world. Towles may relay these developments in writing; on TV, we are able to’t see how Russia is altering as a result of we’re trapped inside with Rostov, a deliberate alternative that nonetheless results in visible monotony and cuts off a possible supply of plot.
With out exterior stimuli, we’re caught with a simplistic fable of an enthralling fogey embracing the redemptive energy of affection. In a special business, “A Gentleman in Moscow” can be a two-hour characteristic a e-book membership may soak up as a Saturday matinée. On this one, it’s a present that pads itself out quite than cultivating its ensemble or partaking with deeper, extra substantive points than Rostov’s private plight. You gained’t thoughts spending time with the Rely, however he gained’t observe you thru the Metropol’s revolving door.
The primary episode of “A Gentleman in Moscow” is now out there to stream on Paramount+ and can air on Showtime on March 31 at 9 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes streaming weekly on Fridays and airing on Sundays.
Up to date: An earlier model of this evaluate misidentified the showrunner.
