A Gentleman in Moscow, review: Ewan McGregor’s charming Count Rostov is wonderful company
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We may be in the age of “prestige TV”, but even the fashionable streaming services know that there’s still a place in our hearts for charming, undemanding period dramas. A Gentleman in Moscow – an adaptation of Amor Towles’s bestseller – may be on Paramount+, but it has the feel of Sunday-night telly, albeit with the bonus of a mesmeric performance from Ewan McGregor.
He plays Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, is placed under “house arrest” for being an enemy of the people. His current residence, however, happens to be the elegant Hotel Metropole in Moscow (although his expansive suite is swapped for a bare room in the eaves, formerly reserved for servants).
His belongings are seized as “property of the people” and he is told that “we have liberated your currency from the hotel safe”. (He does seem to keep a range of natty clothes though.) For many people, this fall in circumstances would be distressing, but Rostov – charming, witty, sanguine – takes it all in his well-heeled stride.
And why not? While he can never set foot outside the hotel, he gets to live there, eat in the restaurant and drink expensive wines, including his much-loved Châteauneuf-du-Pape (there is one temporary setback when bottles of fine wine are declared anti-revolutionary and have all their labels removed). He steadfastly refuses to be downbeat. “Nikolai,” he tells a friend in the bar, “they can take away your house or your rooms but they can’t take away who you are.”
So here we have the idiosyncratic, fanciful and charming life of the Count. McGregor – who appears in almost every scene – is masterful. He controls every moment, radiating personal magnetism and smooth bonhomie, holding the camera with a glance or a smile. Rostov is a thoroughly good man – in the true sense, a gentleman – and McGregor brilliantly captures his essential charm.
There is, however – for the first few episodes, at least – not a great deal of drama. Little in the way of confrontation or action, more a series of encounters: his old friend Mishka (Fehinti Balogun), a precocious young girl named Nina (Alexa Goodall) and an actress, Anna Urbanova (played by McGregor’s real-life wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who provides the romantic interest. Even the officer of the secret police, Glebnikov (Johnny Harris), doesn’t seem too much of a threat to Roskov’s urbane life, as the story moves through the decades of the 20th century against the backdrop of Russia’s changing history.
The drama sets out to enchant (it is written by Ben Vanstone, best known for Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small, so no stranger to light-hearted drama) and McGregor is totally captivating. However, after two episodes there seems to be so little happening that viewers would be forgiven for giving up – which is a shame, because the final three episodes pack in more drama and intrigue than the previous five, as Rostov takes on a beautiful, talented “daughter”, intensifies his love affair with Anna and becomes involved with plotting against Russia’s leaders.
For many, the early pace will prove too sedate, but McGregor’s outstanding performance rewards those who stay the course.
A Gentleman in Moscow begins on Paramount+ on Friday
