With palace walls breached, Elena and Zubak flee, seeking civilian help to evade rebel capture. Elena uses diplomacy and deception in a desperate bid to retain power.With palace walls breached, Elena and Zubak flee, seeking civilian help to evade rebel capture. Elena uses diplomacy and deception in a desperate bid to retain power.With palace walls breached, Elena and Zubak flee, seeking civilian help to evade rebel capture. Elena uses diplomacy and deception in a desperate bid to retain power.
Martha Plimpton
- Judith Holt
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- SoundtracksIf You Leave Me Now
written by Peter Cetera
performed by Chicago
Featured review
Don't rejoice yet
The Regime's anthem, "If You Leave Me Now," was inspired by Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now." In the first episode, chancellor Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet) was praised by her people and advisors, and her international standing improved. However, in the finale episode, Elena finds herself on the lam, with Herbert (Matthias Schoenaerts) snatching her away from the palace and into a field. Elena seems to be living in delusion, believing that if her people could see her, they would rise up against rebels and keep her government in place. Despite her current situation, she rails against her situation while wearing a stylish red dress, resembling a sad little red riding hood with a wolf as her bodyguard. The Regime, a HBO series, revolves around Elena and Herbert's mercurial relationship, which is a tense tête a tête between a vain narcissistic capitalist and a loud, brutish socialist. However, the last episode of the series does not fully reveal this tension. While they try to find a safe haven, they encounter random drivers on the road, including a drunk fool who agrees to help them. Elena dreams of absconding to China or meeting Nicky in Europe, but she is betrayed by the fool, who plans to sell her to the rebels. Elena panics and stabbing herself with a wooden stake, only to be saved by her fearless soldier. They face Laskin (Danny Webb), part of the new National Freedom Front, who has managed to weasel his way back into power since abdicating his position in the Vernham government. With Parliament dissolved and Elena's capture, the hope is for a peaceful transition of power. Laskin separates Elena from Herbert and attempts to pit them against one another, accusing each other of betraying them. He pleads with Herbert that she is killing them and may have the potential to offer her a way out. The Regime excels when it focuses on Elena and Herbert's mercurial relationship, but the final episode does not fully showcase this tension. The show's best performances are evident in the characters' interactions and the tension between the two characters. In "If You Leave Me Now," Elena, a woman who has been humiliated by her husband Herbert, meets Emil Bartos, who is now interested in quelling the civil war. Bartos offers Elena a way back in with the help of the Americans, but with the caveat of a sacrificial lamb in the shape of Herbert Zubak. Elena decides to take the deal, as she believes the Americans want to take their country from them and want her to kneel. As Elena prepares for her ninth Victory Day celebration, she is going through the motions, winning but also losing. She hopes to usher in a new era, a new Europe, driven by capitalist foreign investors and American shadow governments. However, all of this sounds very much like the old era, one driven by capitalist foreign investors and American shadow governments, where corruption rots everything from the top and leaves little for those down below. Elena replaces one dead father figure for another, with Herbert embalmed and now resting where her dad used to. She proclaims that she is no one without all of you and blesses them all, and she blesses their love. Her voice reveals a tenuous, fragile steeliness.
The Regime was always a love story between Elena and her sense of power, rather than between her husband and Herbert. She never did hear more than she wanted to and never reached farther than her own idea of victory in her head. A love like that is hard to find and harder still to leave behind. While it may not be a particularly trenchant satirical critique of modern autocracy, Winslet delivers yet another great performance in "If You Leave Me Now."
The Regime was always a love story between Elena and her sense of power, rather than between her husband and Herbert. She never did hear more than she wanted to and never reached farther than her own idea of victory in her head. A love like that is hard to find and harder still to leave behind. While it may not be a particularly trenchant satirical critique of modern autocracy, Winslet delivers yet another great performance in "If You Leave Me Now."
helpful•32
- moviesfilmsreviewsinc
- Apr 21, 2024
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime57 minutes
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content