The Mage of the Kremlin on Canal Plus: didactic, talkative and without harshness (review)

By adapting Giuliano da Empoli’s best-seller on the rise of Putin, Olivier Assayas gets lost in the twists and turns of a documentary film that rings false.

A year after its presentation in competition at the Venice Film Festival, The Mage of the Kremlin is broadcast for the first time on Canal Plus this Tuesday evening, and can be streamed on MyCanal. Olivier Assayas’ film, in which Jude Law takes on the features of Vladimir Putin, had enjoyed great success in French cinemas, with more than 600,000 spectators, but had not really convinced the Première editorial team… Our review:

Probing the mysteries of the Russian soul with English-speaking international stars? This was already one of the errors of the recent Limonov, the ballad, a portrait of the anarchist writer Eduard Limonov by Kirill Serebrennikov. This paradox is again at the heart of Kremlin Mageadaptation by Olivier Assayas (with a helping hand from Emmanuel Carrère on the screenplay) from the book by Giuliano da Empoli recounting the slow consolidation of Putinian authoritarianism. Jude Law Although he is quite good in the role of Putin, we can’t help but think that it all rings false. It must also be said that the very monotonous tone used Paul Dano (the “mage” of the title, gray eminence of the Kremlin), in the long confession which serves as a common thread for the film, frankly does not help it take off.

The Mage of the Kremlin is a succession of didactic and talkative scenes, interspersed with cards indicating academically which historical event will be discussed during the following twenty minutes (Orange Revolution, annexation of Crimea, etc.), and sprinkled with aphorisms on Russia and power, all stated in a penetrating tone. Assayas does not find here the energy which propelled his Carlos, another big film-file which had for him to play the card of thriller and action, rather than that of hushed conversations between spin doctors in suits and ties. We sometimes have the impression when watching The Mage of the Kremlin that we are watching a digest (lasting 2h36 all the same) of a standardized mini-series, responding to the canons of globalized and impersonal storytelling.

By Olivier Assayas With Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander… Duration 2h36.