Review: 'The Romanoffs' is elegant but frustrating

As the creator of "Mad Men," Matthew Weiner had something to say about spoilers. Each season came with a list of no-nos for critics, such as the number of floors in the advertising office where it was set. When he announced a series for Amazon Prime, I jokingly told him that it might be hard to say what the new show was.

I have to give it to him with "The Romanoffs", which starts on Friday. I saw three episodes and I can not tell you what is the series if I wanted to.

O.K., basically, I can. The episodes are independent stories, with different stars and a thin web of connection: contemporary characters associated with or believed to be descendants of the Russian royal family, whose members were executed by Bolsheviks in 1918. (Sorry, spoiler.)

I can also say that "The Romanoffs" is only television in the broadest sense. The episodes, lasting about an hour and a half, are essentially films. The first three titles are eclectic, sometimes seductive and each, in a different way, ultimately frustrating.

The series begins elegantly in Paris with "The Violet Hour". Anushka (Marthe Keller), an old and nasty aristocrat, is accompanied by her American nephew, Greg (Aaron Eckhart), and his sullen French girlfriend, Sophie (Louise Bourgoin). She keeps them up to date with the promise of inheriting an egg from Fabergé and her big apartment, once used by a Russian royal as a hiding place for her mistress.

Greg's burden is lightened, then complicated, by Hajar (Ines Melab), the new guardian of Anushka, a Muslim who patiently exhausts the affliction and racism of Anushka. They develop a strange and culturally charged relationship – the senescent past being reconciled with the future of Europe – until the last act that destroys the building of the character in the scenario in order to end shock.

"The Royal We" now goes to the American suburbs and its tone to conjugal joke. Shelly (Kerry Bishé) finds herself alone on vacation when her husband, her unhappy husband, Michael (Corey Stoll), finds an excuse to cancel. The catch: The vacation is a theme cruise for the descendants of Romanov. He is one, but she is not.

Bishé is bright but poorly served by the role of a woman who has been suffering for a long time. The episode reveals that Michael's tedious crisis in the middle of life is much more absorbing than it is. But the scenes of the cruise – full of old Americans cosplaying like Russian nobles of the early 20th century – are transporting. (A talkative gentleman from the bar continues to break his glasses of vodka brilliantly, "Sir, you must stop doing that," the bartender put on.)

In the first two episodes, one has the impression that the characters have been distorted by legends of the family of which they are doomed to failure. "Mad Men" was also fascinated by the strata of history and the ends of the faded nobility. There is a little Pete Campbell in each of these modern nobles.

In the third installment, "House of Special Purpose", Olivia (Christina Hendricks), a high-profile actress, is on hand in Austria to shoot a mini-series of Romanov performed by the imperious Jacqueline (Isabelle Huppert). Huppert is astounding, his abruptness gradually giving way to mania. The story – a showbiz show with horror elements from Rod Serling – is becoming more and more exaggerated.

And on. The episodes seem stretched and although Amazon has clearly invested in the series, which was shot in seven countries, it has not been increased visually. The episodes are long as movies but made by Weiner as television.

That said, I like the daring of the idea, the playfulness of the dialogue, the unpredictability of the narrative. When filming the series with the third episode, Huppert's character humorously said, "That's exactly what television needs: another vintage piece with well-dressed models."

"The Romanoffs" is not that. It is rather a "black mirror" of declining relationships, privileges and ruling classes.

The three projected episodes involve women navigating in unequal power structures or men acting badly, as they often do in "Mad Men". This is striking, as it is also the first Weiner series since he is accused, by "Mad Men" writer, Kater Gordon, of having told him while he was in the middle of his life. she was working that she owed him to let her see her naked. Weiner recently told Vanity Fair that he had apologized "if I hurt someone". Gordon, a post on Twitter, wrote: "My memory is intact. Matthew's abuse of power dynamics in the workplace was endemic, and his comments should not be viewed as an isolated event. "

After the end of "Mad Men", Weiner doubts about the TV frenzy. "Mad Men" was like a ghost appeared three months after Sunday, letting his witnesses interpret his words for a week. If he has already made a series in streaming, he said, he would like it to appear every week to preserve this experience.