The Big Picture

Kate Winslet is a standout in HBO’s
The Regime
as Chancellor Elena Vernham, a paranoid and germaphobic ruler.

The Regime
struggles to strike a balance between its comedic and dramatic beats.
Rather than skewer its despicable subjects, the series only pokes at them.

Within the last decade, Kate Winslet has made some of the best moves of her career on HBO. 2011’s Mildred Pierce was a critically praised yet underseen gem helmed by Todd Haynes (May December) that would go on to earn Winslet an Emmy. 2021’s Mare of Easttown, which became one of the network’s biggest watercooler successes, was a gripping mystery to follow along with each week — and not merely because of Winslet’s commitment to a regional Philadelphian accent, either. With this year’s The Regime, which hails from The Menu and Succession writer Will Tracy, Winslet is poised to deliver another performance that will no doubt create buzz. The biggest dilemma that this miniseries has, however, is being able to match the energy she gives to arguably one of the most contemptible characters in her filmography. Part-dark satire, part-drama, The Regime offers shades of previous farcical takes on politics like Veep and The Great, but doesn’t afford the audience nearly enough time to become as invested in its morally bankrupt characters as those shows did.

What Is ‘The Regime’ About?

The Regime’s scope is somewhat limited by its miniseries format (of which all six episodes were provided for review) but also the span of time that it depicts. The show follows a year inside the palace of an authoritarian regime in some fictional part of Central Europe, over which Chancellor Elena Vernham (Winslet) rules with an iron fist encased in a velvet glove. It’s implied more than once that her takeover of the country was somewhat hostile, resulting in the previous Chancellor (Hugh Grant) being deposed and imprisoned. In the years following her successful grab for power, however, Vernham has become something of a recluse within her gilded domain. The death of her own father, whose specter still looms large over her confidence, has also contributed to exacerbating her mysophobia. She hasn’t left the palace in an untold number of days, insists on every room being scanned for moisture percentage, and has ordered a renovation of most rooms after convincing herself they all contain some form of mold. Most of her aides know better than to question her demands, but one new arrival may very well shake up the status quo in more ways than one. Corporal Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) is Vernham’s opposite in every way — rough, imposing, and uncultured. Yet his added presence as a military advisor and his increased access to the Chancellor don’t merely succeed in pushing her out of her self-imposed bubble; they also threaten to upend the entire structure of government in the process.

That said, the rest of Vernham’s council, including palace manager Agnes (Andrea Riseborough) and Vernham’s husband (Guillaume Gallienne), have serious concerns about Zubak’s influence on their Chancellor — and not only because he’s introducing her to questionable home remedies like eating garden dirt and massaging her chest with mustard poultices. The Corporal has displayed some disturbingly violent tendencies that gradually come to light when his past is unearthed via files, but his previous track record as a soldier in the military is concerning on its own. The real question becomes whether Zubak is trying to manipulate Vernham in order to overthrow her and her reign, or if he simply wants to secure himself a safe place at the right hand of power.

‘The Regime’ Doesn’t Always Balance Its Comedic and Tragic Beats

At first glance, The Regime is everything it says on the tin: a satirical series about an increasingly paranoid ruler whose misconceptions of her own power may lead to her destroying herself, her country, or both. The premise alone promises to be rife with comedy, and within that realm, The Regime delivers, at least at first. As Vernham, Winslet has to juggle levels of incompetence and strokes of brilliance, walk a fine line between being unbelievably ludicrous and convincing enough for others to put faith in. In her hands, the role is exactly as compelling as it needs to be, and a large part of what makes the miniseries such a pleasure to return to with every subsequent episode. Grant, Riseborough, Gallienne, and Martha Plimpton as the thoroughly unprepared U.S. Secretary of State, among others, also make for a strong supporting cast that bolsters her performance.

However, when The Regime starts to increasingly tilt into more dramatic territory, it stumbles to balance both moods. It would be one thing if the show wielded comedy as a means of leading the audience into letting its guard down, using ludicrousness and absurdity as a battering ram early on. To a point, it does seem to be offering a commentary on the creeping insidiousness of unchecked power and how even the most inane political figures can possess a more sinister underbelly. The problem is that there’s not enough runtime for the series to satisfactorily spool out that narrative thread. By the time the palace itself is no longer considered a fortress and the threat of rebellion becomes imminent, any character casualties sustained in the crossfire don’t elicit what should have been a stronger wave of grief. In the wake of what should be considered an immense tragedy, the result is an emotion closer to empty detachment.

‘The Regime’ Only Pokes at Its Subjects When It Needs to Skewer
Image via HBO

The biggest struggle The Regime faces is its tendency to spotlight its worst characters through a more forgiving lens. Wielding comedy to poke fun at Vernham, Zubak, and their increasingly toxic relationship is where the series succeeds most. From an acting standpoint, Winslet and Schoenaerts are even more delicious to watch when they’re allowed to exist in a state of being absolutely unhinged with each other. But the series doesn’t seem to want to let its characters be perceived as too unlikable, too unpalatable, with more than one scene between them given a commiserating note through the score by Alexandre Desplat. It’s a strange tonal disconnect for a story that has been striving to illustrate these people as volatile, erratic beings — in other words, exactly the sort of people you’d never want to see sitting at the top. Overall, the series wants to occasionally jab at its characters when it should be indisputably skewering them.

No matter what sort of terrible things Vernham and Zubak have done, both to each other and to others unfortunate enough to cross them, there’s still a sense that we’re meant to feel bad for them when they’ve been brought to their lowest. The biggest takeaway that arises from their damaging dynamic is that it’ll only be a matter of time before one of them manages to ascend enough rungs to kick the other off the ladder completely. When later episodes take a more sentimental approach to their scenes, it runs counterintuitive to what the show itself seems to want to say about a relationship rooted in manipulation. In truth, there are very few characters who come out of The Regime sitting in a place of moral superiority, but isn’t that meant to be the whole point? Absolute power should corrupt absolutely, even for those who happen to find themselves downwind from it.

The Regime REVIEWKate Winslet is compelling in HBO’s The Regime, even if the series struggles to balance its comedic and dramatic elements.ProsThe series starts off strong with introducing us to Winslet’s Chancellor Vernham, a ruler steeped in paranoia and germaphobia.Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts are delicious to watch when they’re given the opportunity to be unhinged together.The supporting cast, including Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant, are strong additions. ConsThe series’ shift into drama doesn’t have the same impact with only six episodes to tell its story.The Regime regards its despicable characters with too much sympathy at times.

The Regime premieres March 3 on HBO and Max in the U.S., with new episodes released weekly every Sunday.

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